I Will Ring a Bell
by PorcelainWhiteRoses
Summary: WARNING SPOILERS WITHIN When Lunadesca meets Yuri with the intentions of joining Brave Vesperia, Karol Capel is more than happy to allow her in. But first she must prove herself in a fight with the Champion of Nordopolica. However, this mission brings yet another journey to Yuri and his friends along with a mystery surrounding two guilds and their members. Rated T for safety!
1. Hearing the Bells

_And when those we love are gone, we find a new self within us that is capable of so much more. The body obtains a new persona- if you will- that has the motivation and power to take down all obstacles. Nothing else matters and the persona is composed of either vengeful hatred, or a sickly depression._

**~Unknown~**

_Jingle… Jingle…_

"So what have you been up to lately, Mr. Commandant?" The black haired man asked as he sat on a wooden crate with his back against the wall. His blonde friend dressed in armor sat next to him on the crate. "Saving princesses, helping those in need; knightly stuff I suppose?" He had a wide grin on his face.

The blonde man shook his head. "With Lady Estellise the only princess, I don't exactly do much saving of that nature." He laughed. "Helping those in need is what I do when I have time but most of my job now is paperwork and giving orders. It gets tiresome after a while; I figured I could find you here in Dahngrest."

_Jingle… Jingle…_

It was late in the evening as a blood red color took over the sky that not long ago would've been joined by a barrier blastia. The setting sun was beautiful over the enormous guild city as the streets grew increasingly busy with guildsmen. The two friends hadn't seen each other in a few months so the time they had now was precious to them both. "Seems like you're not having too much fun."

"Unlike you I didn't join out of boredom." He smiled kindly. "But sometimes, I do wonder if it was worth wasting my freedom on joining the knights. Then I see the people I saved and it makes everything worthwhile… Despite everything I've lost."

The black haired man laughed. "Hey, don't get all sad on me! For what it's worth I think you're doing just fine considering how much you've lost to the Empire." He yawned. "So how long to you plan sticking around? I was only paying a visit to Captain Karol so I suppose I'll stay here for a bit if you want to go for a drink."

He shook his head, "I can't stay long. I'm leaving tonight and only came for a quick visit to make sure you're not getting into any trouble." The blonde raised a hand as he stood. "I have to say, Yuri that guild is the best thing that happened to you; it keeps you on the good side of the law." He turned to his friend as he stood and the two exchanged a complicated looking handshake before the Commandant walked off towards the exit.

_Jingle… Jingle…_

"Alright, Repede…" The man turned towards the wall to find his dog but he was nowhere to be seen. "Repede?" He looked up to see his dog bouncing around the feet of a young girl, barking at her occasionally. "Hey, Repede!" He rushed to the dog, "I'm sorry about him, he's usually calm."

The girl smiled, "Oh it's quite alright I don't particularly mind dogs." She had fair blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and the palest skin the man had ever seen. Around her neck was a light red scarf and her hair was pinned up high with what looked like knitting needles.

_Jingle… Jingle…_

He looked over the girl for the source of the jingling noise of a soft bell but found nothing. He figured the noise was in his head and sighed. "So, what's someone like you doing in a guild city? That's a bit dangerous, don't you think?"

"Actually, I'm looking for someone; Karol Capel." The girl began. "I hear he has a guild named Brave Vesperia and I was interested in joining." She smiled up at the man but it didn't seem genuine. "My name's Lunadesca Talbet, a pleasure to meet you."

The man smirked, "Well, Ms. Talbet, it looks like today's your lucky day. I just happen to be Yuri Lowell of that guild you mentioned." Yuri looked off in the direction of Brave Vesperia's headquarters. "I can take you to Captain Karol if you'd like."

Lunadesca looked down at the ground and muttered to herself before looking up again. "That would be wonderful! Thank you very much." She bowed to him graciously before following him down a street.

_Jingle… Jingle…_

* * *

"Hey boss, I got something for you." Yuri knocked on the door before letting himself into the main room where a fairly young boy sat at a desk. He must've been the same age as Lunadesca if not a little younger. "Lunadesca here wants to join Brave Vesperia." He smiled as leaned against the wall before prompting the girl forward with a wave of his hand.

Lunadesca bowed to Karol before straightening. "Hello, my name is Lunadesca Talbet and I-"

The young guild boss jumped up from his chair with excitement dashing through his eyes. "You really want to join Brave Vesperia?!" He exclaimed. Lunadesca nodded, "That's so cool! All we have are four members; the original. Our fourth member is off somewhere right now but you should be able to meet her soon."

Yuri sighed, "Hold it, boss. You can't just give a position in the guild to anyone who asks for it. You got to test them first… How about that job request we received earlier from Nordopolica?" He suggested kindly.

"Oh, right!" Karol smiled, "Well, first things first; I'm Karol Capel the leader of Brave Vesperia." He walked around the desk to shake Lunadesca's hand. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Lunadesca Talbet."

Shaking his head, Yuri stepped forward. "Alright, before we go any further with this… Your name is much too long for me. How about something short like Luna?" He tilted his head and Luna nodded with a gentle smile, her eyes having a nostalgic look to them.

Karol darted across the room, "We should get going! I'll be outside Dahngrest and call Judith over with Ba'ul!" And with that, the young leader ran out of the house, leaving the door wide open to the street.

"Wait, but you haven't-!" Yuri sighed and put his hand to his head, "I'm sorry about him; he may be young but Karol's a strong leader to boot." He grabbed his sword by the string and led his dog, Repede outside with Luna following closely behind.

_Jingle… Jingle…_

Luna crossed her arms, "So who's this Judith and Ba'ul? Are they members of the guild as well?" She asked. "Usually a guild of this size would keep all members close by for convenience purposes. I mean since we have no barrier blastia anymore, travel becomes ever harder."

Yuri nodded, "Yeah, Judy's the last of our original members; Karol, Repede, Judith, and myself; we're all the guild has. But Ba'ul is more like an ally; he's an Entelexeia." He explained shortly as they made their way towards the exit as well where they found Karol waiting patiently for them. "Sorry we took so long."

A tall Krytian approached the four with a soft smile on her lips. "Well, it's been some time now, hasn't it?" She smiled. "Oh, who is this? A new member I presume?" The woman was absolutely beautiful; porcelain skin and flawless features.

"Yes, ma'am." Luna bowed, "I'm Lunadesca Talbet- Luna for short, and I'm currently being taken to my entrance exam… I think." She glanced to Karol who nodded. "My guess is that you're Judith? Yuri told me about you on our way over here."

The woman nodded, "Yes, my name is Judith. It's great to meet your acquaintance, Ms. Luna." Judith then looked up to Yuri. "Oh, I saw Flynn on my way in here; did he come to see you?" She inquired.

Luna shifted her weight onto one foot as she remained silent while Yuri and Judith spoke with each other. Once they had finished, they left Dahngrest behind to come to an enormous whale-like creature hovering over the ground with a ship in its mouth. "This is Ba'ul; my partner." Judith introduced Luna to the Entelexeia.

"I think I've seen him before!" Luna exclaimed, "Flying in the skies about two years back not long before the blastia disappeared." She bowed to the Entelexeia as well. "A pleasure to meet you Ba'ul." She said as she followed Yuri onto the boat he was carrying.

The beast made a loud noise as it lifted them into the sky and made way for Nordopolica. "Ba'ul says it's nice to meet you as well." Judith translated for her as they flew off to the Southwestern continent of Desier."

Karol bounded over to Luna and Yuri who were making small talk with Judith at the back of the ship. "Luna! Ready to hear your mission?" The young girl nodded and gave her full attention to Karol. "We got a head's up from someone in Nordopolica saying that the new champion of the coliseum is a criminal behind recent murders and robberies. The client wanted us to eliminate the champion from his position; this is what you need to do."

Luna nodded, "I understand."

"One last thing, have you ever been in a guild before?" Judith asked.

The younger girl nodded once again, "Yes, I was in a very well-known guild called Cryptic Heart. I'm sure at least one of you has heard of them." Luna watched Karol's face light up with joy. "I take it you're familiar with the name? They recently… Fell apart so I've been searching for new employment." She explained further.

Yuri looked over to Karol, "You seem to know about them, Captain Karol. Care to elaborate with what you know about them?" He asked with his hands on his hips. He occasionally stole a glance at Lunadesca that made her fidget every time.

"Of course I know about them!" Karol shouted, "They're one of the only guilds outside of the Union! Since they're outside, they don't have to follow the laws of the Union or Empire but act as their own units. Mostly their ranks consisted of criminals and fugitives so they were constantly getting into trouble. Cryptic Heart is one of the two famous outside guilds; the other being the Dark Contract."

Judith seemed impressed that the young girl had a connection to such a famous guild let alone be a member of it. "So how did these two become so famous? Being an outside guild would be enough to stand out but nothing that would make them famous among other outside guilds."

This time, Luna answered. "Cryptic Heart and the Dark Contract have never seen eye to eye when it came to being outside guilds. They both served as guilds that could be hired for assassinations for justice or even hunting monsters like the Hunting Blades do. Both outside guilds became famous from various wars between the two that proceeded on for years; neither side ever relenting."

"Wow," Yuri whistled, "That's kind the dangerous bunch you wound up with. So you're an assassin?"

Luna laughed, "Oh no, I've never killed anyone. I mostly did the hunting work or recon missions on an assassination target. So although I helped, I never followed through with an assassination." She explained quickly.

Suddenly Ba'ul made a low noise and Judith nodded. "We've arrived at Nordopolica; we should gather our things and get ready to head into the city."

* * *

**Well, it finally made its debut! Here's the first chapter of my new fanfiction! Since I finished the game and watched the movie today, I was able to start with accurate information! Thanks for reading and I hope you all stay tuned for more updates.**


	2. Entrance Mission

"So, are you ready for this?" Yuri asked as he looked over the young girl. She hadn't done much preparation; she even didn't bother with taking off her scarf. "Aren't you going to get rid of the scarf? Your opponent could grab hold of it during battle."

Luna shook her head, "No, it's very special to me and I refuse to take it off." She answered as she turned towards the entrance for the participants of the battles. "I'm ready; why don't you go find Captain Karol and get comfy for the fight. I don't plan on disappointing him."

He laughed before resting his blade on his shoulder. "I'd wish you good luck but I don't think you'll need it." Yuri turned towards the doors that led to the stands. "It's a good attitude to have; never back down from challenges that come your way. The only way to live." And with that he left her standing at the entrance.

She watched the iron gate lift slowly and she stepped out into the arena, the moonlight served as the only natural illumination in the arena. Slowly, she came to the center of the arena and the entire arena fell silent. Suddenly, the announcer's voice boomed throughout the arena. "What is this?! What's a little girl like her doing in the arena?!" There was a pause, "At any rate; meet former member of Cryptic Heart; Lunadesca Talbet!"

As the gate opposite to Luna was pulled open, an enormous man stepped out to confront her. "And meet our holding champion, Eferren Quaza!" The announcer's voice seemed to have a humorous tone to it. "I think we can all predict the outcome of this fight!" He clapped his hands, "Let the games begin!"

"Eferren, I never thought that we'd ever meet again… Especially like this." Luna chuckled with slight venom in her voice.

The champion boomed a loud laugh. "Oh, what brings you to the arena? I thought that pesky guild of yours would send someone else to take me down from my position! Oh that's right, your guild is gone!" He laughed. "So you're doing this of your own free will?"

Luna balled her hands into fists. "I plan to take you down for your crimes of murder and robbery!" She yelled at him

Eferren chuckled once again, "Whoa! When did you get a sense of justice?! A little ironic, isn't it? At any rate, a puny brat like you will never defeat someone of my strength and skill; prepare to die."

The crowd cheered as both Luna and Eferren held their ground. She reached behind her back to get a hold on her sword and held it out to her right with a grin. "Don't think your size alone will be able to defeat me; I'm easily faster than you." She darted forward to slash at the man but he reached out, grabbing the sword with his armored hat and threw her and her blade across the arena.

"And your strength is no match for my own!" Eferren shouted back at her as he tossed her easily. Luna swept her legs underneath her to push herself off the wall and back on her feet. She watched the man race towards and she readied herself to dodge the blow. Just as he went to punch her, Luna side stepped and kicked his back, pushing him onto the ground. "You brat!"

Eferren whipped around and socked the young girl in the gut, sending her flying into the air. She quickly descended towards the ground where Eferren waiting to finish her off. Thinking fast, Luna held out her blade and spun around, managing to slash him away so he couldn't harm her further. However, she couldn't get herself upright fast enough and crashed down on her back.

She groaned loudly and pushed herself back up, rolling out of the way as the danger approached again. The other fighter became increasingly desperate to land a hit on the much smaller competitor. Luna ducked to avoid a blow to the head then jumped over a low kick before back flipping a few times to get away from an onslaught of punches. "Stop running away and fight!" Eferren shouted.

"Is someone getting frustrated?" Luna teased with a grin as she continuously dodged until she had been pushed too close to the wall. She turned away from the man and ran up the wall, managing to dodge one last blow before jumping behind Eferren to strike him down with the hilt of her sword.

Eferren collapsed to his knees with Luna pointing her sword at his neck. Just as she was sure the battle was hers for the win, he quickly grabbed the sword and stood as he twisted the sword along with Luna's arm. "Don't be so quick to taunt." She held onto the sword as her arm was bent an unnatural way and grit her teeth.

He went for a punch and she flipped over her sword to untwist her arm as well as jump out of the way. As the man grew frustrated even further, he ripped the sword from Luna's grasp and punched her in the side of her head. Luna stumbled forward and grabbed her head as her vision slowly blurred and she felt weak.

The announcer's voice then began to boom through the arena. "It looks like this match is just about over! Will the hailing champion finish her off; or let her walk out with her consciousness?!" Just then droplets fell down from the sky. "It looks like the rain isn't going to help little Lunadesca at all in this fight! How exciting!"

As the crowd's cheering grew louder, Luna regained her composure in time for her to sloppily duck underneath the man's punch. Up in the stands were Karol and the rest of Brave Vesperia. The leader looked up at Yuri with worried eyes, "Do you think she'll be okay? I don't want her to be killed because we told her to do this…"

Yuri shook his head, "Don't worry; I have a feeling she'll come out on top here." He seemed quite confident in a girl he had only just yet. "Her size lets her move faster than the champion who has hard hitting attacks. This rain isn't exactly helping but if she could make it into Cryptic Hearts, then she can deal with a bit of rain."

Back down in the arena itself, Luna was struggling to keep her balance on the soaked ground. She decided that it was time to go on the offensive side as the man was much heavier than her thus throwing his weight around which would cause him to lose balance easily. Luna turned on her heel to face him and prepared her blade, "No more running."

Luna darted forward with her sword pointed in front of her to get a slash on the man and he just barely got out of the way. However Luna had accurately predicted that he would easily lose his balance and she took the opportunity to land a second blow with a slash from her sword. He fell onto the ground and Luna dashed towards him and slammed the hilt on the back of his neck, knocking the man out instantly.

"I… I don't believe it, folks!" The announcer boomed. "The underdog from Cryptic Heart has done the impossible; she has defeated the undefeated champion of Nordopolica! How about a round of applause for our lovely fighter, Lunadesca Talbet?!" The crowd began to roar with excitement and Luna saw Yuri and the others get up from their seats to exit the stadium. "If you can still walk, exit to your left, new Champion!

Slowly, Luna stumbled out of the arena to find the members of Brave Vesperia with a knight behind them. "This knight says that he can bring Eferren to the capital to be tried for his crimes." Yuri explained as the knight continued into the arena. "So are you alright?" He asked as Judith approached Luna to look her over.

"That blow to the head looked pretty harsh." Judith pointed out. "I hope you didn't get a concussion." She applied a slight amount of pressure to her head where Eferren punched her and saw Alice flinch. "I'll find a doctor to see to your wounds. Yuri, why don't you get her to the inn? It's late and I doubt Ba'ul will want to fly us around in the rain."

Yuri nodded and Repede walked away with his owner as he guided Lunadesca towards the inn. The leader of Brave Vesperia followed Judith to help with finding a doctor for the battered and beaten Luna.

* * *

"Well," The Krytian doctor began as she stood up from examining Luna. "It looks like she'll be fine. Her head injury isn't too serious and there's nothing else I can see from looking at her that's too alarming." She turned to Yuri who paid her with the fee stated earlier.

Judith nodded to her fellow Krytian. "Thank you, sister Krytian." As the other woman left, Judith turned to Luna. "You seemed to know that man; why? I mean, if you don't wish to say, I won't force you to."

The young girl shook her head, "I'm sorry but for your own protection its best if you don't know my relation to him." The others seemed slightly troubled by how Luna phrased why she couldn't tell them so she quickly changed the subject. "So, Captain Karol, did I earn my place in your guild?" She asked with a smile.

He nodded, "Yep! I think you more than proved yourself strong enough to join us or whatever Yuri thought you needed to prove…" Karol smiled, "You just need to promise to follow our guild rules; all for the guild and the guild for all! Do justice and punish the unjust!"

Luna smiled softly. "What a nice change… From plotting assassinations and monster hunts to punishing those who are unjust; it's the exact opposite of what I have been doing for the past several years." She looked over to Karol. "Thank you, boss. I'll make sure I don't disappoint you and the guild."

* * *

**Chapter 2~! So excited to keep this going and I hope to attract more people to the fanfiction!**


	3. The Tale of a Hero

Morning came on fast as Luna sat up in her bed. The pain from yesterday's fight had subsided but when she pulled off the covers, she could see bruises all over her legs. Luna prodded one large one and felt how sore it was as she got out of bed. When she looked around, she found no one else in the room present except for Repede who sat by the bed.

"Oh, good morning Repede." Luna greeted the dog with a pat of his head. "Did you stay here to bring me to the others when I woke up?" The dog of course said nothing as he padded out of the inn and into the main area of coliseum. Yuri and Karol were just outside the enormous building, the black-haired man tapped his foot impatiently. "Sorry if I overslept, everybody."

Luna's new boss turned to her with a smile. "It's nothing to apologize for; you fought amazingly yesterday. It's no wonder you slept in so late. Besides, none of us have anywhere to go in a hurry so we could even stay here for a while." Karol seemed more than pleased to have another member in his guild that had received quite a bit of fame.

One thing that Luna noticed was that Judith wasn't present with the two boys and she looked around. "Where'd Judith run off to?" She asked. "Did she go out to see Ba'ul?" Yuri nodded and pushed himself away from the wall. "Hey, do you mind if we go to Aurnion, boss? I want to see how those people are doing."

Karol nodded, "Alright! We can go to Aurnion." He stopped himself as they began walking towards the exit to find Judith and Ba'ul. "Wait, we need to go see the client for payment! I almost forgot." He turned on his heel and dug into his bag for a piece of paper with a number on it. "The client lives… Here" Karol pointed to a door a few steps away. "Come on, Luna; you should be with me to tell him."

The young girl nodded and the two walked to the door. Karol knocked and waited for the doorknob to turn and reveal an older gentleman standing in the doorway. Captain Karol nudged Luna and she bowed, "Sir, I assume you are a client of Brave Vesperia's?" The man nodded. "It's my pleasure to inform you that the champion; Eferren Quaza has been taken into the custody of the Imperial Knights."

He seemed delighted, "Ah yes! I saw your exciting fight last night. It takes a lot of skill to fight such an enormous target in the rain with hardly any light! May I get your name young lady?" She quickly introduced herself and he nodded. "Hmm… What a beautiful name. Here;" The man took a pouch from his pocket. "The guild's payment. And a little something extra for you, Ms. Talbet." He handed a smaller pouch of Gald to Luna.

"Oh no, sir," She began, "I can't take this money! Trust me; you'll have much better use for it than I do." Luna attempted to hand the money back to the man but he rejected it. After a few moments, Luna gave up. "Thank you very much, kind sir."

And just as if nothing ever happened, the man had disappeared back into his home, leaving Karol and Luna with pouches of Gald. They returned to Yuri and Repede as they continued on to the outskirts of town where Ba'ul waited with Judith for them. "Took you long enough." Judith chuckled as she boarded the ship Ba'ul was carrying along with the others. "Where are we off to?"

Yuri leaned against the railing. "Aurnion; I want to check up on this over there."

* * *

"So this is Aurnion?" Luna began as she took in the sights of such a small town. It was such an endearing town with fairly new looking buildings but many older residents. However, a few children raced across the center of town followed by two women in their mid-thirties.

One of the women turned to look at Yuri and the others. "Oh my! Yuri Lowell; is that you?" She approached him. "It's about time you came to visit us! We finished the building from when you left threes ago! We still never properly thanked you for that."

Slowly, an older man came to the group as well. "Ah, Yuri… How nice of you to drop by." The man turned to each of the people and greeted them by name until he fell on Luna. "Oh, I'm afraid we don't know each other." He held out his hand, "My name is Lenard, the mayor of Aurnion."

Luna shook his hand as she introduced herself as well. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lenard." She looked up at Yuri, "I'm going to take a look around town. I'll meet you back here when I'm ready to leave." And with that, Luna had walked off by herself.

As she walked, Luna caught sight of a skinny man with short black hair dressed in an assortment of sashes that covered the majority of his torso except for the sides. Luna quickly darted behind a row of building with a heavy sigh. "That was a close one…" She whispered to herself as she tried to calm down her heart beat.

"You, young lady!" Luna heard someone call out to her in a rude manner. "Care to hear an old elder's story?" She gestured for Luna to join her on the hill that looked over a small pond. "It's quite a story if you have to time to lend me your ears."

At first, she was hesitant but Luna eventually saw no harm in listening to a story from an elder and decided to sit down facing the old woman. She had graying hair with thin glasses and was dressed in pink robes. "I've got some time for just one story."

The woman seemed happy that she found someone to listen to her story. "It's not often we get outsiders to visit our small town. And when we do, none care to hear the story of how our little town of Aurnion came to be." She continued, "You see, there was a young knight; I believe he's the Commandant if I'm not mistaken… Flynn was his name. Flynn Scifo." The woman searched her brain to confirm the name.

"Well, there was one day when this land was being attacked by savage monsters." The woman kept going on. "Yuri Lowell and Commandant Flynn managed to fight their way to the center of the monsters and blast them all out of existence!" Luna was leaning forward, her eyes sparkling with wonderment. "With the monsters gone, Commandant Flynn and his men began rebuilding the town! They're the only reason why this town even exists!"

When the woman sighed, Luna straightened as she realized she had allowed herself to become mesmerized by the tale. "Lady Estellise even named the town… Saved by the Commandant, built by his trusted men, and named by the budding candidate; this town is definitely blessed by the gods."

Luna scoffed at the mentioning of gods as she didn't believe in such things. She stood and bowed to the older woman, "Thank you very much for your story, it was very exciting!" The woman waved goodbye to Luna and she walked up the slope and straight into Yuri. "Ouf!" She growled before looking up at him. "Oh, it's you, Yuri."

"You seemed pretty interested in that story." He laughed, "I didn't have you pinned as a girl to fawn over shining knights. After all, you are from an outside guild; don't you kind of people hate the knights?" Yuri seemed confused by the way Luna was and her views on other factions. What he found even stranger was her eyes as they darted around the town as if searching for something.

She crossed her arms. "I'm not! I just like hearing about stuff like that. The entire knight in shining armor thing was always something I loved to hear about; especially things like that." Luna continued walked with Yuri at her side as she leaned back and forth, continuing to survey her surroundings.

Yuri placed his hands on his hips as he walked towards the entrance. He kept a close eye on Luna and how she seemed nervous about her surroundings. "You know, that Commandant is a good friend of mine." He smiled, "We were knights together for a few months but I left after some things happened…" The smile faded and Luna thought it best to not press for more information.

As the two reached the entrance they left with the others to make way for Dahngrest. Luna was just about to board the boat when she got a strange feeling about the ship. She looked around carefully as she stood on the plank to get on board. "Hey!" Judith called, snapping Luna out of her search. "Is something the matter?" Luna shook her head and raced up to the ship.

Ba'ul began flying off towards Dahngrest when suddenly something heavy jumped down on Luna. The small girl struggled against the immense weight but it was all too much for her. However, she managed to get on her back as see that her attacker was the man she had caught sight of in Aurnion. He took out a small dagger and held it above her head, "You're the last on my list! After you there will only be one Cryptic Heart left!" The man laughed maniacally but was suddenly tackled off of Luna.

"How dare you interfere?" The man shouted as he slashed out at Yuri who had pushed him away from the smaller girl. "This has nothing to do with you!" Yuri jumped back to avoid the jab and grinned as he took out his own blade. "But if you insist on fighting me; don't say I didn't warn you." He dashed forward to attack Yuri again.

A spear lodged itself between Yuri and the attacker then Judith approached the two. "Oh my, it seems you're fairly outnumbered here. You didn't honestly think it was just these two, did you?" She grabbed the spear and readied it at the man.

Luna pushed herself back up and watched as the man glared from Yuri to Judith. She looked at the man with a slight bit of fear but she seemed confident that he wouldn't take on all three of them; especially now that Karol and Repede were ready to fight as well. The man backed off towards the opposite side of the boat. "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into; you need to stay away from that girl!" And with that, the man jumped over the ledge, plummeting towards the ground.

Karol raced to the edge to see the man spread his arms while holding a tarp-like item to glide back down slowly. He looked back towards Luna to see Yuri already talking to her, "So what are you hiding from us?" He asked abruptly.

* * *

**So for everyone who has been giving me reviews and PMs; thank you so mch for the support! Readers usually don't realize it but a little praise can keep me motivated for a very long tiem! So please; don't be afraid to PM me or give a review! I love getting feedback!**


	4. A Dire Request

"H-Hiding?" Luna repeated, "I'm not hiding anything!" She seemed to grow increasingly nervous about the entire situation. However Luna could tell that Yuri wasn't buying it as she seemingly shrunk down in size.

Yuri stared down at her. "Don't lie to me; you've just joined the guild and you're already lying?" He was not impressed with the young girl at all. "Now we all have our secrets but when it comes to people who are trying to kill us; I don't think you're in any place to have secrets in the guild." As the girl shrunk down further Yuri seemed to get even more impatient. "Listen, Luna. If you're going to be part of Brave Vesperia you're not going to keep such dangerous secrets."

Just then, Judith stepped in and held an arm between Yuri and Luna. "Hey, be easy on her, Yuri. She's just a little girl." Luna straightened up, trying to make herself appear less intimidated. Yuri went to protest but Judith gave him a look that only he understood as Luna slowly walked away from the older man.

As Judith pulled Yuri aside, she lowered her voice. "Did you see Luna when you were yelling at her?" She asked. Judith was sitting up on the railing with Yuri leaning against it beside her. He shook his head and gave Judith his attention. "Hers eyes; she wasn't scared like she appeared on the outside and they seemed quite amused with you."

He looked up at Judith. "You're kidding… I've never had someone think that ticking me off was something to laugh about." Yuri chuckled a little. "She has guts; I'll give that to her. But I won't let her keep the truth from us for long."

"I don't know, Yuri…" Judith continued. "We all have skeletons in our closets; perhaps hers are much too big to ever let out." She pointed out to him quietly. Yuri thought about what Judith had said as she slipped off the railing and walked off towards the front of the boat. The woman walked over to Luna who was looking out over the water below. "So who was that man? He was pretty quick to run away."

Luna looked up at Judith and she knew it would be no use telling her allies absolutely nothing. She searched her brain for details that were safe to give them; "His name's Fedler… He's a lower ranking member of the Dark Contract." She continued. "The members of that guild are better in numbers than they are alone. He was outnumbered so he dashed."

The Krytian woman nodded. "Smart move on his part, I suppose." She glanced down to Luna who had returned her gaze to the world below. "I never would've guessed you have a dangerous past; so dangerous that you can't even tell us your history." Judith stepped away. "But don't worry; I won't press you for details. When you deem the time ready, you'll tell us."

As Judith walked away, Luna found herself joined by Repede. The dog sat down by her legs and put his paws up on the railing to look over the edge. "Hello, Repede." Luna bent down with the dog to eye level and ruffled the fur on his head. "You trust me, don't you?" She asked in a slight saddened tone. "You already know though; you can read me like a book, huh?" The dog barked before rushing off towards Yuri. "I wonder how long I can keep this up…"

Just then Karol came to the center of the ship and cupped his hands over her mouth as Ba'ul slowly descended towards the ground. "We made it back to Dahngrest, everybody!" He called out before letting down the boardwalk once Ba'ul landed. They all followed Karol off the ship and gave Ba'ul their thanks as they left him to fly off.

Once they got inside Dahngrest, the group all split up at the entrance and they agreed to meet back at the HQ once they were ready to review their job requests that had come in while they were gone. Luna walked down the street towards the building that housed the current don; Harry, as she explored the town. She pulled the thick needles from her hair to let fall far past her shoulders as she shook it free from its form. The air was cool so it was a rare time when she could let it down.

The young girl was watching a couple of cats fight over a piece of fish as she continued walking straight into a soft obstacle. Judging by the noise it made, Luna could tell it was a man and her suspicions were confirmed when she looked up. "Oh, I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized.

"Oh no, it's no problem." The man smiled at her; he had black hair pulled back into a ponytail and faded teal eyes with a big purple robe that had a magenta V-neck underneath. "Huh? Aren't you one of those Cryptic Hearts?" He asked.

Luna nodded, "I was; they disbanded a week ago." She replied. "And you are a member of Altosk; Heaven's Arrow, correct?" The only reason why she knew was because they were a famous member of the Union. "I believe you're the one named Raven."

The man smiled. "My, a pretty girl such as yourself knows who I am even to my name? I'm honored." He hooked his right thumb onto his belt. "At any rate, care to enlighten me about that disbanding of Cryptic Hearts? I haven't heard anything about that."

"Luna!" A familiar voice called the girl's name. She turned to see the Krytian; Judith, approach her and Raven before she had a chance to answer the older gentleman. "Hm? Oh, it seems you've met the elder of Brave Vesperia."

Raven smirked, "Oh, Judith darlin'… That hurts." He faked a hurt expression then he saw a look of confusion on Luna's face. "I'm a prisoner of some sort; I owe them my life right now." The older man laughed. "So are you Brave Vesperia's new kitten?"

The girl nodded. "Something like that, I suppose. I joined since Cryptic Hearts is no more…" Luna then addressed Judith again. "So did you need something, Judith?" She asked. Judith nodded and gestured for Luna to follow her. The young girl bowed to Raven. "It was nice meeting you, Raven." And she raced after Judith towards the HQ.

"Karol sent Repede and me to come find you. An interesting job came up and Karol needs your input on how to deal with it." Judith explained. "Even Yuri hasn't been told about the contents yet; he says it's important that Yuri doesn't find out about it until you read it over." Luna examined the way Judith was walking a tried to mimic the same elegance the Krytian had but found it quite difficult.

As the two finally reached the headquarters; which in reality was Karol's home, they were greeted by Repede who had already returned to Yuri's side. "There you are!" Karol exclaimed as Luna approached the table he was sitting at. The young leader handed an opened envelope to his guild member. "I thought you might want to see this."

Luna took the envelope and removed the letter inside. She opened it and began reading the handwritten request that it withheld. It seemed as though her eyes filled with a hurt expression as she read it and she let out a deep sigh. "This isn't good…" Yuri and Judith both tilted their heads. "Should I read the letter out loud?"

The leader shook his head, "First what do you think we should do about it?" Karol asked. "Only you know how dangerous it would be if we took the job. I'll let you decide what to do about it." He sat up on the table next to Yuri.

"Well, without a doubt it will be very dangerous but I don't think we can ignore such a request when it comes to this person in particular." Luna sighed. "I say we accept it; I can't just let this go without at least trying to take on this request."

Karol nodded. "Alright, I guess we'll take it then. You should read it out loud now."

With a deep breath, Luna began reading the message; "_Brave Vesperia, I understand that you wish to have no interactions with the Empire however this is a matter that the knights cannot handle themselves. I have already requested the help of the knights but only one had shown up and he instructed me to contact you. My daughter has been kidnapped by a man named Myron who is known as an esteemed member of the Dark Contract. Please, I beg of you to rescue her. I have tried myself but this man's subordinates are much too powerful. You shall be rewarded generously if you accept."_

"That knight…" Yuri muttered before raising his voice for the others to hear. "It must be Flynn. He's the only one I can think of who would reference the client to us." Karol and Judith nodded but Luna didn't agree as she had never met Flynn.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean the Commandant; Flynn Scifo?" She asked. "You have connections to a knight as high ranked as that?!" Yuri explained that Flynn was an old friend of his and the saddened expression returned to Luna's eyes again but she shoved it away. "At any rate, this is a job that is important but I think we should allow ourselves today for rest. Of course it's your call, Karol."

He thought for a moment before jumping off the table and taking the request from Luna and tossing it on the desk. "Alright, we'll get some rest today then head out tomorrow. Judith, can you find Raven and see if he can help us with the job?"

She nodded and walked for the door when Yuri called out to her. "Judy, wait." The Krytian turned to face him and made a small noise for him to go on. "Bring the old man to the tavern; we can treat ourselves to a meal that we didn't cook ourselves." Yuri looked back at Karol and Luna. "You two are coming also, right? Come on, we can meet Judy and Raven there later." He whistled for Repede to follow him as they locked the door behind them.

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**Hey everyone! Thank you for the constructive criticism you've been giving me about fight scenes and character relations! Those are definetly coming up along with a little bit of story exposure. There are many fight scenes to come so hopefully I'll be able to work on those skills in the coming chapters. And I had a perfect name for this chapter but I can't remember it now! That's what I get for not writing it down.**

**Also; if anyone noticed... Luna is supposed to have glasses but I've actually forgotten to make that known throughout the chapters and decided to edit that feature out of her character design. I hope no one grew attached to her practically non-existent glasses. Oh and if any reads this... Please help me with names for more characters! There will definetly be more Dark Contract characters and others so names would be appreciated since I tend to get hung up on character names a lot.**


	5. Dinner and a Theater

"Welcome to Sagittarius; how may I help you?" The waitress asked as she came to the table that seated Brave Vesperia. She has short black hair with the stereotypical maid outfit that Raven was rudely looking over. Yuri elbowed the old man and he held his arm, rubbing it in pain. "Might I recommend the Rappig Steak; tonight's special?"

Luna looked over for the menu quickly before settling with the Mabo Curry which was the simplest meal on the menu. Raven took the suggested meal while Karol asked for Spaghetti and Meatballs. This left Judith who ordered the Mandragosso and Yuri who decided to have Spicy Shrimp and ordered Grilled Fish for Repede.

The table was silent for a moment before Raven spoke up. "So Luna, where ya' from?" He asked as he leaned forward with his elbow on the table. The man poured himself a glass of wine before taking a short sip and offering it to the rest of the legal aged party. Both Judith and Yuri rejected the drink while Karol and Luna were much too young to accept it.

"I'm from the Capital; or at least I was born there." She began. "I didn't stay there long though. I left as fast as I could when I was really young." The sadness once again returned to her and strangely enough, both Luna and Yuri looked down at the table. Luna quickly shook the expression from her eyes as she tied her hair up with the needles.

_Jingle… Jingle…_

Judith immediately changed the discussion as she could easily see it was a topic neither Yuri nor Luna wanted to discuss. "So what made you join an outside guild?" She asked. "Surely it would be much easier to just join a guild registered with the Union."

She leaned back in her chair for a moment and fixed her scarf so the two ends feel over the front of her body. "I'm not sure; there was just something that was so much more appealing about the outside guilds than the ones affiliated with the Union. They were always picking fights with the Empire it seemed and it was just something I didn't want to deal with. And when you're always taking requests that require committing crimes… You tend to stick together like a family to avoid detection from the knights."

"So it was a search for a family?" Karol wondered aloud. He could relate as he didn't have parents around anymore and the rest of the group was no stranger to lack of parents. "If it's a family you're looking for then it's a family you'll get; you see, Brave Vesperia is already close like a family! Judith and Yuri are the parents, Raven's the grandpa and that would make you and me the kids!"

Luna chuckled. "I think Yuri's a little young to be our dad. I'm fifteen which would mean that Yuri became a father at the age of nine." Suddenly Karol's face lit up as he heard Luna's age and he became flustered while fidgeting in his seat beside her.

The old man had a strange look on his face. "You think of it in such a literal sense." He laughed. "If you ask me, Yuri's more like an older brother to you kids. Judith darlin' would be the aunt and I'd be the dad. I always did want little ole' Ravens running around."

"Well gramps, maybe if you acted more like a fatherly figure you can take my place as the father and I'll go down to big brother." Just then the waitress came to them with their meals and asked if there was anything else if she could get them. They all shook their heads and she walked off to another table. "Well, if old man here is going to be the father, I guess the food's on him then."

Raven went to protest but Luna quickly chimed in. "Thank you, Mr. Raven for the meal!" She exclaimed happily before digging into her Mabo Curry. The others followed suit with their thank you before diving into their meals as well.

"Yes… Anything for you young'uns…" Raven muttered as he took a sip of his wine and cut into his steak. "So… Another question; how did Cryptic Hearts disband? I ask 'ya earlier but I didn't get an answer." He began.

She continued eating until Luna could feel the pressing stares of the curious guildsmen. Luna looked up from her food and finished chewing. "We did some things that we shouldn't have done… That's all."

None of them seemed convinced. "Well, it is an outside guild. It isn't exactly with the law, now is it?" Yuri commented. "Care to elaborate? We left you alone with the assassin; you owe us this much at least."

Luna sighed. "Fine… We received a request to assassinate the family of an extremely rich man in a very small village. It wasn't even registered as part of the Empire; that's how small it was. Well, long story short; the people that were sent ended up killing much more than just the target and it didn't sit well with the Dark Contract. One thing led to another and we disbanded."

Shaking his head, Yuri protested. "That's not good enough; if you want to be trusted you'll have to do better than that." He wasn't being cold as it would appear to others, but he was only being cautious. "I can't go giving my trust to just anybody, wouldn't you agree."

"I'm sorry but I won't tell you any more than that. It's something I can't tell you for the reason that your safety would be put in grave danger." Luna's eyes nervously darted around the room as if she expected someone to jump out at her.

Yuri went to press on for more details but Judith shook her head. "Leave it be, Yuri." She warned him. It seemed that Judith was the only one who could keep Yuri under control when it came to interrogations.

It became silent once before Luna began asking the questions. "So how do you know the Commandant again, Yuri?" She asked. It seemed that she enjoyed hearing about the Commandant or for the most part; just knights.

"Huh?" He looked up from his plate. "Well, we grew up in the lower quarter of the Capital until he moved away. We never got along back then but he had parents and I guess that was one thing I envied him and his sister for." Yuri paused for a second. "Then we saw each other again almost ten years later at the draft for imperial knights. And like you said;" He gestured to Luna. "One thing led to another and we became friends."

The conversation became a series of short chats between two or three people at a time with others chiming in when they pleased. Luna was the first to finish her meal and took a glance around. "I'm going to step outside; it's getting a bit too stuffy in here." She got up and walked towards the entrance, Repede strangely on her heels.

Once the girl was outside, she sat down against the wall with a sigh and Repede sat beside her. She was only outside for a short time when the tavern doors opened and Yuri stepped outside. He looked down at her and slowly slid down the wall to her side. "Hey, Luna…" He began. "Next time I try to go at you like that, stand up for yourself."

Luna looked up to him as she stroked Repede's fur; the dog seemed quite taken with her despite just meeting her the day before. "What do you mean?" She asked. It was so sudden to her that it took her awhile to truly hear what he was saying.

"Sometimes I need to be stopped before I go too far." Yuri admitted. "I guess you remind me of someone I used to know so much that I want you to actually be her. I just keep hoping that you're lying to us so that there's just a small possibility that you're really her but…. I know that I can't change your identity."

She sighed. "I'm sorry; I'm not being completely honest but I can assure you that I've never met you before yesterday." There was short silence, "But I can't tell you; it would put you in way too much danger."

Yuri seemed to be getting frustrated. "You keep saying that we'll be in danger if you tell us too much but how much danger could a little information be?" He decided to stop himself right there as the others came outside. He helped Luna back up to her feet. "Mind if we stay at your house tonight, Karol?" Yuri asked.

Karol focused on Luna, "Y-You too?" His face flushed red but the darkness of the night hid it from everyone else. She nodded, "Alright! Yeah, you can stay at my place. I have plenty of room for everyone." The young leader raced off down the street, leaving the others far behind.

The old man sighed, "I don't understand how you young kids can have so much energy after stuffing yer' faces like that." He began following Karol with Luna next to him. "Hm?" Raven looked down to see the young blonde.

"It looks like someone's taken a liking to Raven." Judith chuckled as she muttered to Yuri next to her. He looked over to the olden man with Luna and smirked. "She said earlier she was looking for a family; maybe she finds Raven a potential father figure."

Raven glanced back at Judith and Yuri with a smirk before putting an arm around Luna's shoulder. The younger girl looked up at him as she continued walking. "What are you doing?" She asked innocently.

He faltered for a moment. "Oh, you looked cold, Luna-honey!" Raven exclaimed, "Wouldn't want you to freeze, now would we?" Luna questioned his pet name for her and he laughed. "You need a cute name to fit such a cute face!" He smiled.

With a sigh, Luna decided to just let Raven keep her close; besides, she didn't exactly mind having him that close. It was obvious to Yuri and the others that she seemed quite taken with him as well. Karol looked behind him and stopped dead in his tracks; he was not fond of her being so friendly with Raven.

"Check out the boss." Yuri laughed, nodding to Karol. "Looks like he's got a little crush on the new recruit… Maybe if we're lucky he'll attack the old man and win her over." Judith and Yuri both watched him as he got all worked up from afar at seeing Raven and Luna walking together.

Judith tilted her head, "Aw, that's cute." She laughed. "Maybe when they're older they'll be long-time lovers, get married, and have kids of their own." Judith smiled, "Of course we can't be sure right now but it seems Karol does have feelings for her."

The young leader began walking again on the other side of Luna as he glared over at the old man beside her. They came to his house and he unlocked the door, letting everyone inside and made sure to lock it behind him. "So I guess Judith and Luna could have the room upstairs and the rest of us will stay down here."

"How kind." Luna smiled. "Thank you, boss. Um, Karol? Where's your shower?" She asked.

Suddenly Karol's face went all red and Yuri stifled a laugh along with Judith. The boss stumbled for words at first before he finally got out his answer. "It's um… Upstairs and two the left of the bedroom." Luna thanked him before saying good night to everyone and went upstairs.

Just as they heard the girl close the bathroom door, Raven finally let his laughing be heard. "Way to go there, boss hiding your little crush on the new girl." The old man sat down and crossed his legs. "If you have the hots for the girl why don't you use your position to get a date?"

Karol immediately became all flustered with the question. "Because that would be dishonorable!" He exclaimed. "I would never use my power to manipulate her just to get a date! I mean… Yeah she's cute but I don't look that desperate, do I?"

Yuri sighed. "You know what; you may not have been around him long but Flynn's been a bad influence on you. Now you're even adopting the knightly morals of girlfriends and not using your ranks to get girls." He leaned against the wall. "I'm glad I jumped off that boat as fast as I did or else I might be some work-obsessed freak like Flynn."

They tied up the late night conversation before they all turned into bed. Judith and Luna got their own room as at least two of the boys; Karol and Yuri, had the decency to give them privacy. However, the old man begged to room with them which caused Repede to take guard in the main room of the home; right outside the boys' room and in front of the stairs.

* * *

**There ya go! A little bit of a sneak peak on the relationships between some of the characters. I don't know if I'll make KarolxLuna a real thing though so stay tuned for more of that adorable little pairing.**


	6. Impossible Odds

"Get up, dammit!" There was a sudden pressure jabbed into Luna's side as she was rudely awoken by the rest of the guild. It scared her so badly that she nearly fell off the twin-sized bed but luckily Raven was standing at the other side to keep her from tumbling over. "You said the job was one that couldn't wait; so what are you doing sleeping through the afternoon?"

Luna recognized the voice as Yuri's as she pushed herself up onto her knees and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her light blonde hair fell over her shoulders and lay in curls on the white bed sheets and Karol's guest bed. "Huh? Is it really that late?" She asked, lifting her head to allow her eyes to dart around the room from person to person.

The old man shook his head. "Nope, we just needed you to wake up so we can leave. So why don't you get ready fast. I have a feeling the Commandant won't wait around for us forever." He began walking out the room, escorting Yuri and Karol along with him. Judith stayed behind as she was still getting ready herself.

Now alone, Luna got out of bed and walked to the armchair where her clothes were laying. She was currently in a white tank top and booty shorts that hugged her body tightly. "Judith?" Luna began as she pulled off the shorts to put replace them with tight white leggings. "Do you think it's okay for me to come along?"

The other woman didn't seem to know what Luna meant. "Are you talking about the fact you're from an outside guild which commits crimes daily?" Luna confirmed Judith's suspicions as she pulled a light blue, long-sleeved shirt over her head and buttoned up the back. It had buttoned cuffs that she led undone and pushed up past her elbows. "I've met Flynn and he's the kind of person that will accept the friends Yuri makes regardless of where they come from. You have nothing to worry about."

"Maybe so but why am I still so nervous about it…" Luna muttered to herself so quietly that Judith wasn't able to catch it. She tore a brush through her hair before putting it up into the buns with needles. As she finally finished getting ready, she and Judith joined the boys downstairs in the main room.

"It's about time… I never did understand why girls take so long to get ready." Yuri sighed. "It's not like you're going on a date; it's a mission where we're going to be fight against other people. You're bound to mess up your hair or get your clothes ripped up." He laughed a little and turned towards the door. "The letter said to meet Flynn near Heliord; it's not too far from here."

Karol took the chance to hang back and walked beside Luna as they headed for the bridge out of Dahngrest. She hardly even noticed him walking there until he finally spoke up. "Hey Luna, what do you know at Myron?" He asked as he referenced to the name mentioned in the request for their guild services.

Luna was quiet for a moment. "He's a horrible sadist…" She replied. "I've had the experience of fighting him and it was not good for me; I had nearly died and probably would've if it weren't for the boss stepping in and saving me." Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she thought about her old boss and for once she appeared happy.

Once they were out of the city, they began walking towards Heliord. Since it was only about a mile away from Dahngrest, they decided to get in the extra bit of exercise and walk rather than rely on Ba'ul for a lift. During their journey, Luna had started walking with Judith as she wanted some time with the only other girl in the group. "Hm? What is it, Luna? Up for some girl talk, are we?"

She seemed a little flustered. "Haha, well I'd be lying if I said I'd mind a little girl talk. After all, the rest are boys who can't stand to talk about anything but fighting." Luna sighed. "How did you survive as the only female, Judith?" The younger girl seemed to be looking at Judith with pure admiration for her as if Judith was a role model to her.

"Ah, it's not that hard." Judith answered. "Boys will be boys and once you grasp that, you learn to live with it. And sorry but if you're looking for someone who doesn't talk about fighting all the time; you've come to the wrong place. You should meet Rita or Estelle sometime; they talk about other things like books and… Books." The two laughed shortly.

As they continued towards the approaching Heliord, Luna saw a single figure standing at the entrance to the city. He was a tall, blonde knight with intricate armor that was a one-of-a-kind set made especially for the Commandant. Yuri smirked as he approached him and hits the back of his hand to Flynn's. "Didn't think I'd see you again so soon." Yuri mentioned.

Luna watched as the two exchanged a few friendly words before the Commandant turned to the others. "So are all of you here to help?" They all nodded and the knight looked over everyone before fixated his gaze on Luna. "Huh?" His eyes widened and he seemed to freeze but Yuri immediately snapped him out of it. "I-I'm sorry, please forgive me. I don't believe we've met; I'm Commandant Flynn Scifo."

The young girl bowed to the high-ranking knight as she smiled to him. However, something seemed faked about her smile but no one could be sure as they had never her truly happy. "I'm Lunadesca Talbet; a new recruit of Brave Vesperia. It's a pleasure to meet the Commandant of the Empire."

Flynn cocked an eyebrow but his pure blue eyes were full of relief. "Talbet?" He repeated. "Aren't you from one of those outside guilds; Cryptic Heart?" Flynn asked as Luna nodded gravely. "I had no idea they took in children as their members." He could see how worried she was about him knowing of her past. "Unlike most members you've managed to stay under the radar for crimes so I suppose I can allow you to remain free." He smiled.

Luna seemed surprised to find that the Commandant was such a kind person but then again, he would have to be in order to put up with Yuri. He continued on with matters regarding their joint mission. "The client instructed me to wait here until you arrived. We're to meet him in front of Sybak Cave."

As they began walking, Karol seemed to gravitate towards Flynn and the admiration in his eyes was obvious. Judith realized it right away and smiled gently at it and showed Yuri as well to which he scoffed. Despite being his friend, Yuri didn't seem all that glad to have him around. Even Luna; who Yuri predicted would be all over Flynn- kept her distance from him and was back towards Raven who tailed the group.

When they reached the cave, the Commandant stepped forward and examined the entrance to the cave but didn't see the client anywhere. He came back outside moments later, the sound of his hard metallic shoes clicking away at the hardened ground. "I have a feeling he might have gone inside on his own or has been taken in."

"It's bad news for all of us if he's been taken in…" Luna mumbled. "That means we're playing by their rules. They have a hostage so what do we have? Strongly worded sentences and the Commandant? I'm sorry but the Dark Contract is not one to listen to someone in your position, Flynn." She approached the cave and tried to peer down the long, dark pathway.

With a sigh, Raven stepped forward. "Well we made it this far and I don't think any of us want to just leave knowing that two innocent people are being held inside." He seemed deeply troubled by the fact a young girl was inside despite his usual care-free and womanizer attitude. "We should at least be careful while we go through."

Flynn nodded, "I agree; with a little girl inside I refuse to just leave her alone at the hands of those creatures from an outside guild." The Commandant quickly glanced to Luna. "No offense intended."

Just then Repede barked loudly and bit down on Flynn's gauntlet as he pulled him towards Luna with immense force. The Commandant wasn't sure what do as he had never seen Repede act in such a way before. Repede sniffed the air between Flynn and Luna then barked once again as Flynn pulled his arm from the dog's mouth. "What's gotten into you Repede?" Yuri asked.

The dog only barked then whined as no one seemed to understand what he was trying to tell them. "Strange; I've never seen Repede do that before." Judith commented with everyone nodding their heads in agreement. It was definitely strange for Repede to show hostility to those he had grown to trust like Flynn.

"At any rate…." Yuri began, "Let's get going; the Dark Contract won't wait for us to be ready to take them on." And with that the group entered the cave; Flynn and Yuri walked in together first with Karol and Repede right behind them. Raven followed Judith inside which left Luna still standing alone outside as she stared off into the cave. "Hey; are you coming?" Yuri called back to her before she came bounding after him and the others.

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**So I have all character relations planned out and how I want to do this. In case some haven't noticed yet; Luna really looks up to Judith as she is the only other female and a perfect role model. Also, I really want to know what you guys all think about Karol and Luna being a couple eventually! Please give me your feedback in the reviews!**


	7. Sybak Cave

"So we know this Myron character is a sadist but what else have you got to tell us?" Yuri asked as he led the way with his friend through the various tunnels of Sybak Cave. It was formed not long ago when the Adephagos was raining terror down on Terca Lumireis. "And this time leave nothing omitted; we can't afford to have one of your half-assed responses."

Luna rolled her eyes at the older man as she followed him and Flynn close behind at request of Yuri. "Well from what I remember he's an old friend of the Dark Contract's leader so without a doubt Myron's strong but you already knew that. He's a behemoth but that size makes him slow which will give the fastest of our group a way to attack. Last time I checked though he likes to surround himself with gunmen while he himself uses a sword."

The Krytian Judith sighed. "Well I think it terms of quick and agile that would leave you and Karol, right Luna?" She suggested. "You're both small and without a doubt can move quick enough to catch him off guard while the rest of us keep him busy."

"My weapon is too heavy for me to attack fast enough." Karol chimed in. "So I think Luna's the only one small enough to get some clean hits in. Yuri may be fast enough but he isn't exactly what I'd call short."

Raven agreed. "Right, a big bulky weapon like Karol's won't be of much use where agility is needed." He kept a hand resting on the hilt of his dagger. "You can leave the gunmen to me; my arrows can strike them down faster than any sword ever would.'

As they came to a more open area of the cave, there was a shrill shriek from some kind of animal then a hoard of bats flew into the clearing followed by two humanoid fish-like creatures. Flynn and Yuri immediately drew their weapons along with everyone else. "Take out any magic-users first." The commandant ordered as he raced to a Magic Bat.

Luna went to attack one of the magic-using bats but found herself being attacked by a defensive bat instead. She focused her strength on that one while trying to prevent the magic bat from completing a single spell. Karol ran to her side as he defeated the Defense Bat with one fell strike so Luna could take down the Magic-user. "Thanks, Karol."

Strangely enough, those two words coming from Luna was enough motivation to get Karol pumped up and he began to take down bat after bat. Judith chuckled and threw her spear straight through the wing of an Attack Bat. However the bats seemed to keep pouring in from every tunnel but nevertheless, the group pressed onward.

"I've got the fish!" Luna shouted as she back flipped over an attacking fish and landed behind him to stab it through the gut. The monster slowly collapsed to the ground and as the second fish came at her, Luna managed to duck down to avoid its slash. Luna blocked the second attack from the monster and got so enthralled with that one monster that she hadn't realized the water arte glyph above her head as a Magic Bat began casting Splash.

The commandant caught sight of the glyph and shouted to warn her but she didn't seem to hear him. Flynn quickly located the attacking bat but found it too far away to prevent the attack from hitting Luna by taking it out. He quickly darted away from the three bats he was fending off and practically threw Luna halfway across the area as he slashed the fish away and raised his shield above his head to protect himself from Splash.

The young girl hit the ground hard and looked up to see Flynn shouting back at her something that she couldn't hear at first. She just sat there and starred at him as she squinted her eyes to try and read his lips. "Are you alright?" Flynn repeated himself as he held and hand down to Luna.

She refused his help and stood up on her own as she attacked a bat coming up behind Flynn. "I'm fine." Luna then left Flynn confused as she raced across the area to take out the last of the Magic Bats.

_Jingle… Jingle…_

Yuri had seen how cold Luna had turned towards Flynn which- as far as he knew- wasn't like the Luna he knew. In fact, he was really the only one who ever acted like that with Flynn while practically everyone else was falling head-over-heels for his charms. "Yuri! Watch out!" Raven called to him as a fish jumped at him. The black-haired man turned to pierce the monster's heart and fling it off his sword and onto the ground.

Karol and Judith took out the last of the remaining bats and everyone collapsed onto the ground out of exhaustion. "Man…" Yuri whistled. "I thought that was never going to end!" He glanced over to Flynn who had his eyes glued on Luna who was seemingly glaring at the ground. "Hey Flynn." Yuri began but decided to stop as he realized his friend wasn't even paying attention.

"W-We need to keep going." Flynn finally said as he pushed himself up along with Yuri. Everyone else eventually found their feet once again and agreed to follow Flynn once again down the tunnels. The order of their group had changed again with Luna trailed alone at the back of the party.

After only a few moments of walking though, Luna spoke up loud enough for the leading commandant to hear her. "Commandant," She began, "What was the name of this client?" She asked with an accusing tone.

He dug into a small bag he had attached to his belt and took out the letter to open it and read aloud to name at the bottom. "It says here the name is Hunnam; why?" Flynn looked over his shoulder to see that Luna had stopped dead in her tracks; unmoving and eyes wide.

"We have to leave." Luna answered shortly as she glanced up at Raven in fear. She raced to the front and tried to push the others back towards the exit but heard a low mumbling and a young child shout in terror. Flynn and Yuri ran past Luna immediately, following the source of the noise as Luna turned and ran after them and the others. "No please, Yuri! Listen to me! You can't do this! It's a-"

They came out to a wide open space with an enormous man with shaggy brown hair and a large, five-foot sword in his hands. "You made it, Lunadesca." He growled deeply as he got up from his seat to approach the group. "That idiot Commandant of yours fell straight into our trap… He even put your life in danger, Luna! How unfortunate."

To the left of the man was a young girl with a mean face. The group assumed that she was the one who had imitated a child's scream of terror and thus drawing them straight into their chamber.

The young girl said nothing as she simply allowed the man to talk as he paced circles around her. Yuri stepped closer to Luna and held his sword out as Flynn focused on the man in white robes not too far away. "You… You're the client!" He exclaimed as the commandant looked back at Luna with regret for not listening to her warnings.

"Myron; I don't know what you're planning but leave them out of it." Luna growled. "Your grudge is between you and Cryptic Heart. If you've got a problem you take it up with me." She quickly turned to face Myron as she prevented herself from having her back to him.

The Dark Contract member smirked as he noticed he was making Luna nervous. He took advantage of this and stepped forward while pushing Yuri away from Luna. "I know you're secret." Myron took another step so his lips were right next to Luna's ear as he whispered something to her that seemed to terrify her. "So it's time for them to find out, don't you think?"

_Jingle… Jingle…_

Luna jumped away from him with a glare as she drew her blade, holding it out in front of her with two hands on the hilt. "No, you can't know that!" She shook her head in disbelief while the others watched silently as the scene unfolded before their eyes. It was a look of desperation that no one would ever guess they'd see on the young girl's face.

"Oh, you don't believe me?" Myron taunted as he placed his massive hands at his sides. "Then shall I demonstrate my knowledge and reveal your secret for myself?" He turned to Flynn and Yuri who were standing close to each other not too far away. "You see, this girl-"

She immediately darted forward to slash at Myron only to be grabbed by the back of her shirt and pulled Luna away from him. Luna glanced over her shoulder to see the 'client' as he quickly slipped his arm around Luna's neck. "Let's see how you escape us this time, you little brat!" Hunnam shouted at her with sharp venom. "Myron, I say we teach her a lesson."

"I agree." The young girl finally spoke up from her prolonged silence. She approached Myron and added in a hushed tone that only Luna and the three opponents could hear. "If we kick 'em around a little right now, they're turn against her. It'll be much more agonizing if her end comes from them rather than us."

Myron's grin turned into a wicked smile as he turned from Yuri and Flynn to Luna who was still in a choke-hold from Hunnam. "You've got a point there, Lanie." He stepped forward and grabbed the front of Luna's shirt before tugging her away from Hunnam. In one powerful movement, Myron stepped towards Flynn and Yuri, whipping Luna straight at the two boys.

Luna slammed into them as they all fell into a piled. Yuri pushed Luna off quickly and raised his sword as Myron came down hard with his own blade. Pushing against the larger man's strength, Yuri struggled to stay standing. Flynn and Luna raced behind Myron and slashed at his back to relieve Yuri of the burden.

The behemoth whipped around, holding his sword out as he smacked the two blondes in a wall with the dull side of the blade. Flynn's breath was knocked straight out of him while Luna pushed away the nauseas feeling as she got back up to her feet.

Meanwhile Raven back-stepped three times as Hunnam attempted to attack him with knives in a series of lightning-fast strikes. Once Hunnam began to lose his balance from attacking so quickly and relentlessly, Raven pulled back an arrow and let it pierce the man's leg. Hunnam growled and was seemingly unaffected as he ripped the arrow out and tossed it aside.

The older man darted out of the way as Hunnam threw three knives in Raven's direction. Raven then turned and shot three more arrows before breaking out his own dagger to perform a down-ward slash across the man's chest.

Karol brought his enormous axe down on Lanie as the younger girl darted to the side and kicked the Brave Vesperia leader in the back of his head. He spun around and attempted to hit her with the pole of his axe but she grabbed hold of the pole and flipped over it before punching his gut. The young leader jumped back as Lanie tried to kick him in the side and just as her leg flew through the air Karol dropped his weapon and grabbed hold of her ankle.

He tossed Lanie up into the air where Judith jumped up and threw her down into the ground. The Krytian landed with a click on the ground in front of the young girl as she pointed her spear at the girl's throat. "I think you've lost, little one." Judith smiled softly.

"M-Myron! I'm out of here!" Lanie shouted before kicking Judith's spear from her neck and scrambled to her feet as she raced for the exit down the dark tunnels. However, the other two persisted as they fought against the outnumbering Brave Vesperia.

"Hunnam!" Myron roared, "Take care of it!" He turned on Yuri as the man jumped into the air above Myron and he easy struck him aside with the much larger sword. Hunnam nodded to the higher up as he broke away from Raven's barrage of arrows to scale the rock wall and looked down over the area before giving a signal to Myron.

The larger man grinned and kicked Judith away and straight into Luna as the two girls tumbled over each other and finally into a wall. The Krytian was propped up against the wall while Luna was upside down, her back on the ground while her feet remained in the air. Myron proceeded to slash across Flynn's stomach and send Karol flying into the ceiling. As the young leader fell back down to the ground and Flynn fell back with an open wound, Yuri was the last one standing.

Yuri raced towards Myron as the sole standing obstacle to Myron and Hunnam but he was easily shut down by the man with a strong blow from his sword that Yuri couldn't block in time. Just as Yuri hit the ground, Hunnam jumped down from his perch and slammed his fist into the ground. Red snake-like creatures slithered through the ground and as they made contact with the Brave Vesperia members and the Commandant, they became paralyzed. "I-I can't move…" Karol growled as he struggled against the invisible force. He glanced over at everyone else to see if they had the same problem.

With a strong laugh, Myron gestured for Hunnam to join him as the two slowly came over to the paralyzed Commandant. Myron bent down and gripped Flynn's chin as he grinned. "Not so tough now, are we Commandant Scifo?"

Flynn growled and attempted to bite the man's hand as the only thing he could move was his head. Myron only laughed and snapped his fingers as he stepped away and Hunnam took a long rope from the larger man. He stepped forward and pulled Flynn to his feet against the Commandant's will and began wrapping the rope around him tightly.

"N-No!" Luna shouted as she struggled to get away from the paralysis. "Stop it; no! You can't do this, Myron! You can't!" No matter how hard she tried however, the state of paralysis wouldn't budge and she remained powerless to the Dark Contract members.

Yuri growled. "Dammit, Flynn!" He shouted, "Don't let them take you without a fight!" But he knew that Flynn couldn't do anything in his current state as Myron made sure the rope was tight and the knot was tied so it could never be undone.

"Luna," Myron began in a singsong tone. "You know where to find us when you finally want to tell everyone the truth about you. Also, we have that friend of yours; Leichal was it?" He paused for a moment as he grew amused by the look on the young girl's face. "She's back our base. You might want to hurry; who knows what might happen to her? Or better yet… The Commandant."

As Myron began walking off, Hunnam picked Flynn up easily and hoisted him over his shoulder as the two member of the Dark Contract walked straight out of the cave and there was absolutely nothing Brave Vesperia could do about it. However, all eyes were on Luna as her own icy blue eyes casted themselves up at the ceiling as she lay there upside down.

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**I did not expect this to be so long. It's six pages in my Microsoft Word Document xD Oh! Everyone, I've opened an Ask-Flynn tumblr recently! check it out here - .com**


	8. Beauty Sleep

"N-No they can't do this they just can't!" Luna shouted as she pounded her fists against the fallen rocks. When Myron and the others had left, they blew the exit to smithereens, preventing any passage out of the cave. "They kill him!" She continued as he voice grew more desperate. "They'll kill him…" Luna tried to wiggle her fingers between the rocks to pull them out but only jammed her fingers in the process.

Yuri approached the wall and slashed at with his sword a few times before resorting to kicking weak looking stones. "Why would they close this off if they want Luna to come to them…" Yuri growled in his confusion.

At first, Luna ignored him but then she sighed. "They're buying themselves time." Suddenly she dropped to her knees and looked down at the ground. "Everyone… I'm… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. It wasn't supposed to happen like this!"

"Of course it wasn't!" Yuri roared as his anger finally got to him. He took a few steps forward and pointed his sword down at Luna. "Now you're going to tell us what you secret is; you've been allowed to keep it hidden for much too long. Flynn was taken and now you're telling me that they'll kill him?! Does that even get through to you?!"

_Jingle… Jingle…_

Raven stepped forward and put his arm between the two. "Hey now, Yuri. Just calm down and let's simply talk about it. We can't save yer friend by yelling at each other, now can we?" He looked back at Luna.

She slowly got back up to her feet without a word and examined the wall, searching for a place where either she or Karol could squeeze through. Luna found a small opening and climbed up the wall and pushed down a few of the rocks around the hole. "Up here." She called down, "It's big enough for all of us to squeeze through." She dropped down to the other side and quickly moved out of the way.

"I'm much too old to be doing this kind of thing." Raven muttered as he squeezed himself through the hole and fell down on his stomach. As he attempted to get up, Karol jumped through and landed on his back which caused him to make a loud squeak-like noise. "H-Hey Karol, please… Please get off."

Karol jumped off Raven and helped the old man up as he apologized. The others came out of the cave one by one until they were all out in the open again. Judith turned to the others and crossed her arms. "It's gotten late." The sky was dotted with stars as the sun was beginning to set. "We should go to Heliord and get some rest at the inn." She suggested.

"I agree." Yuri began, "If we go right now we'll be too tired to put up a good fight. Besides, Flynn can take care of himself and I doubt that those people would be so quick to kill him. After all, they probably want a good fight when we get there so we should be ready to give them one." Everyone else seemed to agree so they began walking off towards Heliord.

However, Luna remained in her place and starred after the others to see Karol stop and look back at her. He walked away from the group and came over to Luna with a worried look. "Luna? Are you alright?" She looked up wordlessly at Karol and walked with him back towards the group where she gravitated more towards Raven.

He put a hand on Luna's head and ruffled the blonde's hair lovingly. "Don't worry, Luna-honey; that Flynn kid will be alright." Raven kept his hand on Luna's soft blonde hair as he did his best to comfort her in his carefree way. "He didn't become Commandant through pure luck or because his father was in the knights, you know?"

Luna was silent once again as she thought over what Raven was saying to her and eventually she sighed. "You're right; I'm worrying too much I think." She began. "None of us would be thinking straight if we went straight after them, I suppose."

"That's my girl." Raven smiled as he pushed her sideways a little with his hip. The young girl stumbled a foot to the right but jumped sideways as she hip-checked the older man a foot in the other direction. "Hey, easy with ol' Raven, would ya?"

She laughed shortly as they came to Heliord and made their way towards the inn. Although it was late, none of them were ready to turn in for the night just yet. As Yuri went inside to pay for their room, the others split up to take walks through the newly built city. Luna found herself wandering through the lower level of Heliord as the sun ad finally set over the horizon and the stars in the sky were much brighter.

Luna climbed up a stone wall that overlooked the water as the waterfalls poured into the larger body of water. Suddenly there was a bark that nearly sent Luna over the edge of the wall. She looked behind her to see Repede looking up at her with a saddened expression. "Repede… Why aren't you with Yuri?" She asked.

Repede barked and put his front paws up on the wall as he tried to get up to Luna. She slipped off the wall and beside Repede as she sat down with him. "You still remember, don't you?" Luna sighed sadly. "You knew from the moment you saw me in Dahngrest, didn't you." She stroked his head as Repede laid down in a ball beside her.

"Luna." A familiar dark voice began as took like purple books stopped in front of her. Luna raised her head to see Yuri looking down at her before taking a seat on the other side of Repede. "This time I need to know; what are you hiding from us?" He asked quickly. "No more avoiding the question; Raven and Judith aren't here to stop me from getting my answer this time."

Her entire body froze just then as she realized she truly was cornered now and undoubtedly would have to answer his question this time. Luna didn't know if Yuri would go so far as to attack her if she didn't say anything but she decided to try her luck. "My answer remains the same; I cannot tell you as your life would be put in danger."

Yuri growled. "It's really taking you a long time to grasp the fact that I just plain don't care if I'm being put in danger." He began. "If I actually cared when I was in danger, do you think I'd be going after Flynn? If I was afraid of danger, we never would've saved this world from destruction." Yuri looked at her with a stern look. "So don't give me that answer again."

"I'm not giving you any other answer so you might as well give it up." Luna kept a hand on Repede's head. "I won't have you be put in more danger than you already are because of me." She stood up. "So stop asking me." Luna began walking off and half expected to have Yuri follow her but was relieved when he remained seated.

When Luna reached the upper level of Heliord, she was spotted by the Krytian member of Brave Vesperia as she approached the younger girl with a smile. "Find if I have a chat with you?" Judith asked once she reached Luna. She nodded and Judith gestured with her head towards a balcony to the right of the inn. "Let's go talk over there."

As they sat down at a small round table on the balcony over-looking one of the larger waterfalls that poured through the city Luna took a deep breath. "So let me guess, you're going to ask me about what I'm hiding from everyone, right? Listen; Yuri already talked to me and my answer still remains the same that I-"

"That's not what I wanted to talk about." Judith replied. "I just wanted to talk to you about what you think of the others in our party. You seem close to Raven if you don't mind me saying; it's quite endearing if you ask me."

Luna thought for a moment. "I really like Raven, there's something about him that just makes me feel like I can rely on him for anything. And even though Yuri continuously tries to corner me and get me to answer that question of his, I can tell he's a good person. He's only trying to protect his guild from people who could potentially hurt it."

The Krytian smiled. "What about Karol and I?" She asked. "You're the same age as our leader yet you act so much older than he does. It's a bit amusing watching how you two act in battle; Karol's excited and all over the place while you keep calm and are more strategic."

"That's true," Luna laughed slightly. "Karol is a bit more uppity than I am but being the same age makes him easy to talk to. But he seems so tense when he's around me; it's strange but I hope he'll eventually become comfortable around me… And as for you, Judith; well, I guess I see you as an older sister. You see…" She seemed saddened. "I lost my older sibling when I was younger and I guess I just see you as a potential older sibling figure."

Judith smiled. "I'm flattered." She put a hand on her chest. "As for Karol... Well maybe you should talk to him about it and see what he says. Although it's probably something he needs to address with you for himself rather than having you confront him." Judith got up and walked past Luna and towards the inn door. "You should think about turning in soon."

Luna sat at the table alone for a few minutes before she got tired and bored then decided to go into the inn for the night. As she came inside, she noticed Karol and Raven sitting together at a table in the main lobby. She waved to them, "I'm going to bed, and I'll see you two in the morning, alright?" Luna continued upstairs and into the room where there were three beds and two large sofas.

Inside Judith was already asleep in her bed and Luna let out a sigh as she realized she wasn't quite ready to go to sleep just yet. Luna took a quick shower in the bathroom then came back out to find Karol sitting on the floor by the enormous window. "You should probably go to sleep; we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know…" Karol began as Luna took a seat beside him. "I just can't sleep so I thought if I tried to calm down here I could sleep." He was right; the view of the enormous moon was calming and the stars that twinkled around it were stunning. "When I was still part of the Hunting Blades I'd sometimes get frustrated with a mission so I would always come out and stare at the moon."

Luna smiled. "When I was younger I had an older sibling who always told me that if I ever felt alone to look up at the moon. Because no matter what, my older sibling would be staring right at it too." She began to feel sleepy and her eyelids grew heavy as she fought off sleep. Slowly, Luna leaned sideways towards Karol.

Brave Vesperia's leader grew a little tense but soon enough, Luna had her head on his shoulder and had fallen asleep. His face grew hot but soon his muscles relaxed and he sighed heavily. "Night, Luna." He muttered.

"Ain't that a sight?" Raven commented, causing Karol to jump a little. "She really seems to like you, doesn't she? Maybe you really can make it with her, huh Karol?" He walked over to the two fifteen year olds and bent down in front of Luna and slipped one arm behind her back and the other under her knees as he lifted her up. "Why don't you get some sleep?" He pulled back the covers on the bed and set Luna down before pulling them over her.

Karol stood and nodded. "Alright, you can have the third bed, Raven. Yuri and I will take the couches." He walked to the couch along the walk and laid down with a blanket pulled over him and a pillow under his head. "Goodnight, Raven." He said tiredly before finally dozing off happily as he had finally gotten Luna to open up to him a little.

Raven smiled, "Night, kiddo." And just as Raven laid down to go to sleep, Yuri and Repede came into the room. "We're all turning in so make sure you and the pooch keep it down, alright?" He said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

As Yuri walked across the room, he kept his eyes on Luna. She looked so innocent while she was asleep but he knew there was more to the young girl. However he wasn't about to pull a cheap move such as attacking while she was asleep; Yuri would wait until the right moment came about and he could force the answer out of her.

* * *

**My updates have gotten quite long, haven't they? That's good for you guys i guess since that means I'm developing more with details and character relationships. Judith kind of revealed her relationship/views on the others but don't worry, that doesn't mean you won't see the relationships in action. However~ I did decide to go with a little Karol and Luna. That may or may not continue.**


	9. The Girl With the Impossible Name

Luna got up just as the sun was rising and found that she was the only one awake as everyone else was still asleep in their beds. She kept her feet quiet as she grabbed a hairbrush and went into the bathroom. Roughly, Luna pulled the brush through her long, blonde hair until it was nice and neat so she could whip it up into a bun. She retrieved the knitting pins from the counter and pushed them through her bun to keep it in place.

As she came out of the bathroom, Luna crept across the room and went out to the hallway. She slowly descended the stairs to the main lobby and sat down at a table. Surprisingly, a young woman approached Luna while holding a steaming cup of coffee. "Would you like some coffee, dear?" She asked.

With a smile, Luna nodded, "That'd be very kind of you; how much?"

"No change, darling." The woman set down the coffee and pushed it to Luna. "It's a part of our services." And with that, the woman began walking back to a room behind the counter. Just as Luna went to take a sip of the coffee, someone came by and snatched it from her hands.

Raven sat down across from her as he pressed his lips to the mug's edge. "Thank you, Luna-honey; a cup of coffee is just what I need to start the day. Besides, someone as young as yourself has no need for the caffeine."

Luna sighed and fidgeted a little as Raven took small sips from Luna's coffee. It wasn't something she wanted too badly in particular so she decided to let it go but she still wished she had at least a small sip out of it to calm herself down. The young girl began looking at the cup forlornly as she willed for it to come back to her.

The old man looked at Luna then to the cup. "Want a sip?" He held it out to her and saw the hesitance in her eyes. "I'm not sick or anything and sharing a drink never hurt anyone." Eventually he got Luna to crack a smile as she took just a small sip out of it before handing it back to Raven. "So, are you ready for today?"

"I think so…" Luna replied as she waited for the caffeine to set in. "Myron is a force to be reckoned with all on his own but when he has a hostage and at least two others with him… Well then that might be a problem for us. But nevertheless, I won't back down from a fight."

Raven smiled. "You're brave, darlin'." He commented. "I've got to say I envy you; if I were in your position I'd run away and change my name." This seemed to truly hit home with Luna as her eyes widened and she starred down at her pale white hands.

He noticed the change in Luna's demeanor and immediately shut himself up to see Yuri and the others come downstairs all ready to go. "We should get going." Yuri said shortly, "We don't know exactly how long it's going to take for us to reach their base. Which reminds me; Luna, where is their base?"

"Last time I checked it was at Ghasfarost. They fixed the place up a few years ago after a Hermes Blastia was destroyed there." Luna glanced across the amused faces of the party members. "It's not that far away so we should be able to get there by foot so that we're less likely to be spotted by the Dark Contract."

Yuri shook his head. "If Flynn's in danger we need to drop in on them rather than give them extra time to do what they will with him." He seemed determined to choose speed over strategy which wasn't much of a surprise to Luna. "We were able to fend off one of them easily last time so we really only need to concentrate on the other two."

She shook her head. "I doubt that it'll just be the three we found at Sybak if Ghasfarost is their base then without a doubt the leader will be there as well. That's what scares me the most." Luna looked down at her hands again before standing up. "We have to go by foot, Yuri. Please." She balled her hands into fists.

"What good will that do us?" Judith asked, "If we go by foot and by the small chance they see us, they might hurt Flynn. He might already be injured but we can't focus on that right now. I say we take Ba'ul to the summit; it'll consume time to walk there and that's time we can't afford to lose." The Krytian didn't find what she was saying the least bit disturbing.

Luna on the other hand was horrified by the very thought of having Flynn being hurt by the Dark Contract. She took Judith and Yuri's argument into consideration before pulling at Yuri's sleeve like a young child. "If we're going to take Ba'ul let's go now." She tugged the older man outside while the others ran to follow her.

"She seems quite worried about your friend, Yuri." Raven pointed out as they began walking out of Heliord where Judith called for Ba'ul. They boarded Ba'ul without another word about the manner as they began to make haste towards Ghasfarost.

Karol called everyone to the center of the boat as he sat up high. "So we need an attack plan when we get there. We should have Raven and-"

"I'll drop down on my own first." Luna interrupted Karol who gave her a look of surprise along with everyone else. "Look, if we all drop down at once they'll feel threatened and will immediately bring Flynn into it as bribe." She looked over the edge of the boat at the approaching tower. "And I won't be alone for long; once you guys see things getting dangerous, you can drop in."

There was a short silence before Karol spoke up. "But they're going to see Ba'ul circling the tower. Don't you think they'd try to shoot us down or something? We're dead if Ba'ul drops the ship." He pointed out. "Also, I don't feel comfortable just dropping you off by yourself." The others agreed except for Yuri who seemed deep in thought. "Yuri?"

"It's not a bad idea." The older man began which seemed to catch many people off guard. "She knows these people the best so I think we should trust her on this at least. Although she hasn't been very truthful, we can at least keep a good eye on her with Ba'ul. We just need to keep enough distance from the summit."

Raven shook his head. "No, I won't allow Luna to put herself in such danger no matter how much she knows about the enemy. We do this together if you want my opinion; if we let her go alone they could easily kill her before we had the chance to react."

"Right, so letting Luna go alone is out of the question." Karol concluded. "So we're all in this together; we all jump down at once and take 'em down." He jumped down from his high pedestal and joined Luna by the edge.

With the summit in sight now, Luna could make out the light blonde hair of the commandant as he pulled against the chains that bound him to the wall. On either side of Flynn were two members of the guild while the enormous behemoth; Myron stood beside a slender man with fiery, light red hair that blew in the wind like wisps of flames. "Just let me talk to them first. That mean you too, alright Yuri?"

Yuri muttered something under his breath just as Luna got up on the railing and jumped down to the summit of Ghasfarost. One by one, the others jumped down after her as the young girl stepped forward towards Myron and the fiery man. "Rashta… I had a feeling you'd be here."

"Of course!" The fiery man exclaimed as he moved towards Luna with a wide grin. "After all, my dear… Dear daughter Lunadesca is standing right in front of me so how could I possibly miss this?" There was a feeling of sarcasm in the man's voice.

With a growl, Yuri took out his sword. "I knew we couldn't trust her; she's part of the Dark Contract!" Suddenly there was the rattling of chains as the Commandant pulled against the wall only to have the members that were guarding him point their swords at Flynn. They had everyone exactly where they wanted them; it was a flawless plan on the Dark Contract's part.

"Oh no…" Rashta continued as his smile widened and his hair curled around his face as the wind whipped it around. "She's not my daughter. You see, the girl standing before you if the girl with the impossible name. Lunadesca Talbet died seven years ago." He saw Luna grow tense as he continued talking. "This girl has been working so hard to hide the truth when in reality… She cannot escape. You will undoubtedly bring pain and disaster for everyone around you just like you feared."

Karol watched with wide eyes as the girl who had stolen his heart was being accused of having a name that didn't belong to her. "How did you know?" Luna asked in a dark tone as she realized it was check mate in this game of chess.

Rashta smirked wickedly. "It's quite simply, really. We found the last member of your blasted guild. In exchange for his life… He had to lead us straight to you. And it seems like his information was correct. Isn't that right…"

"N-No!" Luna shouted.

_Jingle... Jingle..._

"Annabella Scifo."

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**I could not hold the plot twist off any longer it was killing me so much! So yeah, here it is; you finally know Luna's true identity. Don't worry though, everything will be explaine din chapters to come~!**


	10. Dangerous When Cornered

"W-What?" Flynn ceased his struggling and looked up at the young girl who stood before the slender man and enormous monstrosity. He stared at her with wide blue eyes as he tried to figure out how it was possible for this girl to have the name of Annabella Scifo. "That's impossible… She died years ago…"

The young girl stood there with her hands balled into fists as she bit down on her tongue with full force. Yuri was frozen in his place along with Flynn as he couldn't figure out an explanation for Luna's true identity. "Annabella…?" He muttered in a quiet voice that no else had heard.

Karol seemed confused by the revelation as much at the others but for a different reason; why she had the same last name as the Commandant. Slowly, 'Luna' took a step back away from Rashta but something seemed strange about her. She was now completely relaxed and a wide, ominous grin appeared on her face. "L-Luna…?" Karol called out to her while using her fake name.

She didn't say anything or turn around to look at Karol but instead she just titled her head to the right as she stared intently at Rashta. "Oh my… I never thought I'd see the effects of Dementia." He commented in an amused tone. "I hear it's quite dangerous. Myron… Fedler… Take care of this brat." He ordered with a nap of his fingers before baking away from the young girl.

Myron cracked his fingers as he stepped forward with the man who had attacked the group when they were getting a ride from Ba'ul. As Myron reached back for his enormous sword, he noticed the strange, yellow, glowing crypts along the irises of her eyes. "So this is what it looks like…" Myron muttered to himself before running at her with his sword ready to slash down at her.

Luna seemingly disappeared and reappeared above Myron as she came down to slash him; missing his neck only by a few centimeters. She straightened and sidestepped out of the way to avoid Fedler's stab before back-flipping to kick him on the side of his face. Her entire demeanor had changed; instead of her concentrated and calm face, she had a sadistic, cruel smile and she seemed smug.

"You're a slippery one, aren't you?" Fedler growled as he spun around to attack her. He caught her across the stomach which caused a small yelp of pain and the crypts in her irises flashed for a moment.

Yuri and the others darted forward to try and help her but as they reached Myron and Fedler, Luna shouted loudly and a yellow pulse ran along the ground. The force of the pulse sent the members of Brave Vesperia straight into the wall while creating a force field around her and the two Dark Contract members. Yuri got right back up and began to pound his fists against the force field. "Dammit, you can't do this yourself!" He shouted.

The leader of Brave Vesperia looked back at Flynn as the rattling of chains began to sound once again. He nudged Judith who joined him as he raced to the Commandant's aid; Judith taking care of the guards by tossing them over the edge in two quick movements. Karol bent down beside Flynn and took out a bobby pin from his large bag. He wiggled the pin in the wrist cuff for a few moments until he heard it unlock.

Flynn got up to his feet as Karol unlocked the second cuff. He ran to the force field and began slamming his fists on it as well as if he could possibly break the barrier created by the girl who shared his last name. "That can't be her…" He growled to himself. _'But why do I feel that I have to protect her..?'_ He wondered to himself.

Despite everyone being so worried, Luna didn't seem to be struggling with the two strong opponents. With every quick slash from Fedler she'd deflect it with her own blade while dodging the heavy-hitter slashes from Myron. Not once did she attempt to attack them outside of her counterattacks and little by little, the damage built up on them.

"This is tedious." Myron muttered as he grabbed Luna by the neck and held her up off the ground. With a quick slash, Fedler ran his blade down her back, causing her to shriek in pain. The crypts disappeared from her eyes for a moment before returning and she immediately swung her heels into Fedler's chin then forward to kick Myron's head.

Luna fell to her feet and spun around with her blade stretched out in front of her as she cut across both of the men's chests. Blood dripped down the tip of Luna's blade as she ran straight for Myron, her blade pointed towards him. Just before her blade pierced his body, she was tackled aside by Fedler who struggled to pin her down.

"Stay still and I'll make your death quick and painless." Fedler growled with a smirk which was Luna's first clue that he was lying. She curled her legs up between her and Fedler then pushed them straight forward as she watched Fedler go flying into the ceiling of the force field. As Fedler fell through the air, Luna flipped onto her hands and kicked him aside.

The larger of the two men came charging straight for Luna and as Myron swung his sword in a wide vertical slash, she jumped up and placed a hand on his sword. "Not so fast, Myron." She propelled herself from the blade and kicked him square in the face which caused a cut to open on his forehead. "Why don't you two give it up already?" She whipped around and brought her blade up to defend herself against Fedler slash.

"I wouldn't get so cocky, brat." Fedler growled as he leaned over Luna while pressing down with his sword as hard as he could. "We know what the Dementia does to you." The girl broke away from Fedler only to have herself come blade to blade with Myron. Both of them pressed against the other as hard as they could.

Suddenly there was a loud shattering sound and Luna jumped away from Myron but fell back as she lost her balance "D-Damn!" Her sword lay in pieces before her and Myron lurched over her. However, the crypts in her eyes remained as did her smug disposition. Luna darted underneath Myron and straight past Fedler, managing to trip him in the process.

Although Luna wasn't much of a fist fighter, she was still faster and smaller than the two men which gave her a slight advantage over their strength. Luna ducked underneath Myron's blade and jumped back as Fedler came at her with a flurry of slashes.

Meanwhile, the Commandant began biting down on the inside of his lip hard as he watched the young fend off against the two larger men. He was scared stiff for her and he looked over at Yuri who was equally worried. If there was even the slightest chance that this girl really was Annabella Scifo, then they definitely did not want to see her get hurt.

Now with no weapon, it was obvious that Luna wasn't going to last much longer but there was still something strange that possessed her and changed her entire façade. Luna continued to dodge with one maneuver right after the other but it was obvious she was growing tired. Quickly, she propelled her feet straight into Fedler stomach and as she turned to chase him in order to finish him off, Myron grabbed onto her scarf tightly.

The young girl began to struggle but he got her under control quickly by holding her in place with a headlock. "Get ready to say goodbye, Little Bell." He laughed as he spoke loudly enough for Yuri and the others to hear. However, Myron's glare was directed straight at Yuri as Fedler got back up and twirled his dagger in his hands.

"D-Don't you ever call me that!" Luna shouted as she struggled as hard as she could against Myron. She could see the murderous intent in Fedler's eyes but as he looked back at Rashta, the amused look faded from his eyes and was replaced with disappointment. Slowly, Fedler stepped forward until he was right in front of her. "Time for your curtains to finally close."

Swiftly, Fedler took his dagger and stabbed it through Luna's abdomen. The blood-curdling scream that came from Luna ran shivers down everyone's spines. Flynn and Yuri simultaneously shouted out for Luna although it was all for naught. The force field around the battle site slowly faded away into thin air as Myron dropped Luna roughly on the floor and followed Rashta alongside Fedler.

Judith chased after the two who had attacked Luna but they managed to reach their getaway vessel that dropped them into the waters below as they set out on the sea. The Krytian looked back at Flynn and Yuri who were bent down beside Luna's limp body' the Commandant's eyes were watering up from the tears he was fighting back.

"There's only one way to know if she really is Annabella…" Yuri muttered to Flynn as he looked up to his friend. The Commandant nodded and slowly, the two pulled down the scarf from her neck to reveal a small bell on what looked like a collar. On the back was written; _'To my Little Bell…'_ and as they saw the words, both the boys had a hardened expression on their face. "It's her."

* * *

**Oh my I did my best to keep this battle long and this was as long as I could make it. THe net couple of chapters are going to be flashbacks to THe First Strike storyline.**


	11. The First Memory

"Now you need to get to the Dean of Housing while I go to the entrance hearing." The blonde haired boy began as he placed his hands on his sister's shoulders. "Make sure you remember to remain polite and do not speak out of turn. Once they give you permission for housing, ask for a horse you can use for transport."

The younger girl looked up at her brother with admiring eyes. He was dressed in his shining armor that glinted in the sun as well as his light blonde hair. She nodded and ran off towards the castle doors where she was told the Dean of Housing had an office. Once she was inside, she found the hallway where multiple offices resided for the different officials affiliated with the Imperial Knights.

Eventually, the young girl found a door labeled with the name and title of the Dean of Housing. She knocked on the door and opened it a crack. "May I come in?" She asked in a small voice. When she heard a woman invite her in, the girl stepped inside and shut the door behind her. "I'm sorry to bother you but I'd like to request for housing by the Empire."

Inside was a beautiful woman with light brown hair that was curled all the way past her shoulders. She wore a welcoming smile and she beckoned for the girl to take a seat on the other side of her desk. "Alright, let me get out the forms…" She dug through the desk until she found a packet of three papers. "I need your name."

"Annabella Scifo." The young girl replied to the first question and pretty soon though the questions were being fired at her one right after the other. "My relation to the knights is my older brother; Flynn Scifo who has been my caretaker. I have nowhere else to go and if it's possible I'd like to go to wherever he is to be stationed if I obtain permission for housing."

The woman looked up from her paper when she finished writing. "Now let's not get ahead of ourselves here." She dug through the files on new recruits and examined a file on Flynn Scifo. "It's obvious you two are related; same eyes, same hair, same facial features… Looks like your relation claims check out." She dropped the papers on her desk and leaned back. "Well, Ms. Scifo, it seems like you'll be housed by the Empire in the town of Shizontania."

Annabella slowly smiled nodded to the woman, trying to keep her excitement under control. "Thank you so much, Mrs.!" She exclaimed. "Oh… I was wondering if I'd be able to get a horse for the journey to Shizontania…?"

"You're not afraid to ask for what you need… I like that in such a young girl."

The woman stood with the papers in her hands and headed to the door. "Give this to the stable-men." She began as she handed a card to Annabella. "He'll be required to give you a horse as long as you present this to him. Make sure you keep that card though; it's your key into everything to do with the Knights."

The young girl thanked the woman one more time before bounded down the hallway with the card in her hands. As Annabella came back outside, she saw her older brother arguing with another newly recruited knight by the stables as the collected their rented horses. "It's not like I joined the knights just to see you." The other knight said nonchalantly.

"Flynn!" Annabella exclaimed as she raced over to her brother and the other knights. The two stopped their arguing and the strange knight raised an eyebrow at the young girl. "I've gotten permission to be housed in Shizontania! I'm even allowed to take my own horse from the stables!" She exclaimed happily.

The other knight with Flynn seemed focused only on the bell around Annabella's neck that jingled with every move she made. He smiled, "So you still have that old bell I gave you, my Little Bell?" He asked with a sly grin.

Annabella looked up at the black-haired knight as Flynn groaned with irritation. Her icy blue eyes went wide and she jumped up to hug the knight's neck. "Yuri! It's really you!" She cried out. Yuri supported her by wrapping his arms around her back before setting her back down. "Of course I'd keep this bell; you gave it to me as a present."

"Anya stay away from him; he's a bad influence on you." Flynn warned his sister quietly as he had her flash the card to the stable-men. As they went to the back to find a young white horse and brought it out front for Annabella.

Yuri stuck his tongue out at Flynn when he was turned away then turned to Annabella. "So Little Bell, it seems like we'll be able to be together for quite some time. Your obnoxious brother and I are both stationed at Shizontania." He smiled at the young girl just as Flynn came by and helped the girl up onto the horse.

As the two boys got up onto their own horses they began to head out of the Capital that all three of them had grown up in when they were younger. Annabella struggled with controlling the horse for a moment before catching up to her older brother. "Flynn, how long will it take to get to Shizontania?" She asked.

"Probably a day or two…" He replied. "It'll take a while but we were given food. Although it's only for two people I can share my supply with you. I'm used to it anyways." Flynn ignored the faces that Yuri had been making at him and Annabella couldn't help but laugh a little.

Annabella brought her horse closer to Yuri's and she pointed off in the direction of a large fortress. "Hey Yuri, I'll race you to Deidon Hold!" She exclaimed as Annabella lashed on the reins as the horse ran forward at a speed that startled the young girl.

The black-haired knight laughed. "You're so on!" He yelled as he chased after the younger girl that he used to be close with when they were younger. Annabella seemed to be having trouble with getting her horse to stop as she came closer to Deidon Hold. As the young girl passed into the fortress she jerked too hard on the reins and the horse stopped short, thus sending Annabella flying onto the ground about ten feet forward.

"Anya!" Flynn and Yuri exclaimed as they raced into Deidon Hold. Her brother jumped from his horse and bent beside his sister who seemed to be laughing. He held a hand out to his sister and helped her up with a side glance to Yuri. "Don't be so careless with my younger sister!" He growled. "She could've gotten seriously hurt!"

Annabella allowed Flynn to help her up and brush off her clothes but she did come into Yuri's defense when it came to her possibly being injured. "Flynn, it's not his fault; I'm the one who wanted to race. I'm fine so there's no need to worry, alright." She looked up to Yuri who gave her a wink before she was helped onto the horse by her brother.

"Just be careful, okay Anya?" Flynn sighed as he got back up on his own horse and led the way towards the other side of the fortress. He looked back at the other two who were chatting mindlessly behind him as they passed under the North gate. A beautiful pink tree could be seen in the near distance and it was a town named Halure.

As they came closer, Annabella began walking her horse towards Halure curiously. Neither Flynn nor Yuri noticed her wandering off until Yuri called back to her. "So why did you-" He looked over his shoulder to see the girl going towards the small town. "Little Bell! We don't have time for a short stop!" Yuri shouted at her.

Annabella turned her horse around and trotted over to the two boys with whom she was traveling with. As she bounded after them, Flynn looked back at his sister. "Anya, you can't run off like that, okay? I'll have you housed at the castle if I have to. I can't be worrying about you while I'm on missions."

"We both know you'd never leave me to live alone in the Capital." Annabella replied as she brought her horse beside Flynn. She understood that she was possibly irritating Flynn by being so friendly with Yuri. The young girl looked back at Yuri with a wink as she hung by her brother's side, giving him a small nudge which made him crack a light smile. "Flynn… Don't let the knights change you...? Please?"

Flynn looked down at his sister in surprise for a moment before giving her a soft sigh. "Don't' worry; I won't ever change if you don't want me to." He ruffled her long blonde hair before pushing her to the side lightly. "So long as you promise to stay out of trouble when I'm not around."

* * *

**The first of quite a few flashbacks chapters. It'll be awhile until we reach present day right now so just hang tight because a lot of this is going to be important. Also; spoilers for The First Strike will come up throughout the story now.**


	12. The First Fight

"So this is Shizontania?" Annabella took a long look around the beautiful town as Flynn guided her up the incline to the town's center. "It's such a cute town…" She kept her horse in a trot beside Yuri and Flynn as they kept themselves faced forward- their gazes fixed on the Knights Headquarters towards the back of the town.

Flynn stopped as they reached the top of the hill and they all dismounted their horses as they led them to the stablemen. The two boys were approached by a par of twin red-headed girls; both of them were wearing higher ranked knight uniforms. "Are you the new recruits who have been sent over?" One asked in a harsh tone.

They nodded together and the other twin looked down at Annabella. "Oh, you're the girl that got permission for housing, right?" Annabella nodded without a word and she looked up at Flynn nervously. "Then you can come with us; our Captain Niren Fedrock is in charge of housing as well and since we're already heading over there with these two you might as well come."

Annabella nodded with a quick smile before holding onto Flynn as they entered the headquarters and made their way down the halls. The two twins looked back at Annabella who hadn't lifted her head from her feet as she held onto her older brother. Even Flynn found it strange for Annabella to be clinging to her in such a way but he guessed it was just reality sinking in that her brother was a knight now.

"Make sure you pay our Captain your utmost respect, boys!" The scarier twin scolded before opening the door and guided the other three inside. As they entered, Annabella looked up to see an older man with gray hair sitting behind the desk. He looked like a strong and strict man but he gave off a warm and welcoming aura.

"So these are my new recruits?" The Captain looked over the two boys. "A couple of beanpoles they sent me, huh?" He chuckled a little before glancing down to Annabella who avoiding eye contact and held onto Flynn's arm. "Now you're much too young to be in the knights; might you be Annabella Scifo; the young girl looking for housing?"

The older blonde nudged his sister for her to look up and as she took a glanced up at the Captain, he smiled with a short wink. "Yes, Captain." Annabella began using the respect her brother had taught her. "So if you don't mind I'd like to request housing here at this knight facility." Her voice was louder than she intended to but her excuse was her nerves.

He laughed deeply. "Oh, no need to be so formal! As for your housing… I'm afraid we have no housing that's free. However…" He glanced at the twins. "If these two ladies don't mind I suppose you could room with them."

They talked it over quietly as Annabella looked up at them with an innocent look as Yuri smirked at her clever trick. If she could charm them into loving her, she would be able to wiggle her way into their hearts. It was almost as if you could see their hearts melting to the mature seven year old and they sighed. "She can stay with us."

Flynn smiled and the Captain looked down at Annabella. "There we go, all settled then. Boys, you'll be sharing room 17B up on the second floor. Flynn, your sister will be in 20B with the girls, okay?" He smiled to the boys. "Oh, I don't believe you've been properly introduced; this is Hisca Aiheap and the other is Chastel Aiheap. They're two-year recruits so they'll be your higher ups."

Suddenly the smiles faded from Flynn and Yuri's faces once they heard they'd be sharing a room. However, neither of them said anything as they were all dismissed by Captain Fedrock. Flynn and Yuri stormed down the hallway and Annabella had her wrist being squeezed by her brother as he practically dragged her down the hallway. "F-Flynn, you're hurting my wrist!"

The older brother seemed to be ignoring his younger sister until they stopped in front of room 20B on the second floor. Yuri watched as Annabella ripped her arm from her brother and looked up at him. "What was that for?" Her brother looked past Annabella to the twins and Yuri who had a smug grin on his face. Flynn hugged his sister and gave her a kiss on the head. "Flynn?"

"Sorry; I was just a little irritated." Flynn ruffled Annabella's hair. "Why don't you get settled in a go to sleep for the night? It's getting a little too late for you to be up." He brushed a strand of hair from his sister's face before patting her on the head.

Hisca stepped forward. "Don't worry; we'll make sure she gets into bed early." She assured the worried brother before ushering the young girl inside. "You two should get settled in your rooms; we'll bring her over to your room in the morning." The two boys nodded and hesitantly walked off down the hallway towards their own room.

* * *

Now a week after Flynn and Yuri arrived at Shizontania, they were given day-guard outside the city gates. The twins had been stationed out there as well and a few hours into their shift, Annabella came walking down the stone-cobbled street to join them. It was nearly noon and she had just woken up from her nights rest. She was approached by Flynn who gave her a hug, "You slept late this morning." He commented.

Annabella returned to hug before pushing herself away. "Yeah, I stayed up all night waiting for you guys to come home from your mission so of course I'd sleep in." She smiled up at Yuri. "I bet you wish you could sleep in like that, huh?"

The black-haired knight took his fist and brought it down on Annabella's head lightly. "Oh shut up, Little Bell." He growled in a playful tone. "So what are you doing here? Not that I don't want you to grace us with your company but I doubt a seven year old wants to hang around with a bunch of knights." He muttered.

"Of course I want to hang with knights!" Annabella exclaimed, "I love knights; they're all so amazing and admirable!" She grabbed onto Flynn. "Our father was a knight, remember? He was the best knight of them all!" The two twins looked down at Annabella with saddened expressions as they realized that her father had died when he disobeyed his orders.

Flynn sighed, "You can stay as long as you stay out of trouble. I can't be watching you while I'm trying to keep guard, alright?" Suddenly there was a small bark and his sister looked down to see a young puppy jumping at her feet.

Annabella bent down to pet the dog's head, "Hello, Repede." She smiled at the young creature's excitement to see her. "Is Yuri still being mean to you? He can be a grump but don't let him get to you; he'll warm up eventually."

"Don't give him false hope, that irritating mass of fur is the last thing I want to be with." Yuri growled as he leaned against the wall. He looked off across the bridge to see their commanding officer walking towards them. "Captain? What are you doing here?"

The captain proceeded towards the group of knights with an older dog named Lambert at his side. "I was checking the forest for any more of those monsters." He explained as he stopped before them. "Annabella, what are you doing here? You're not bothering your older brother, are you?" He wondered aloud.

She shook her head and gave him a quick salute. "No, sir!" She exclaimed before relaxing as Repede bounded up to his father, Lambert. Annabella walked over to the older dog and stroked his back as she kissing the dog on the nose. "Hey there, Lambert."

As Captain Fedrock continued past the group, Yuri stopped him. "Captain, can you take Repede with you? He's really annoying…" The young knight trailed off as Fedrock sent Lambert back to retrieve the puppy. The two continued towards the headquarters with the Captain being stopped by civilians who had groceries ready for him along the way.

"Captain Fedrock really is something…" Annabella commented dreamily as she watched in a daze. She was admiring the typical knightly aura he gave off that she had noticed since the moment she met the older man. "Maybe you two will be like that sometime." The girl added to her brother and Yuri. "Neither of you act like knights…"

They seemed confused about her comment but decided to push it aside as they waited out the rest of their boring shift. It hadn't ended until a trio of knights relieved them from their posts and they began heading down the path towards a popular tavern. "We can't take Annabella in here, can we?" Flynn asked as he looked over the outside of the building.

Chastel shook her head, "No, she can come in. She just can't sit at the bar since they serve alcohol over there. Well, I mean they serve alcohol through the entire tavern but mainly at the bar." The twins led the way inside where it was packed full by tough-looking men. "Ugh… The guildsmen are here…"

"Guildsmen?" Yuri questioned as he took a seat at a table. Annabella watched as Flynn walked off towards the bar while Hisca explained what the guildsmen were to Yuri. Chastel seated herself down across from Annabella who sat beside Yuri. "Look at those three over there…" He growled as he gestured to the table across the way.

Annabella stared past Chastel to the table of three fairly large men who were drinking away with their beers. One was telling a story of how he conned a helpless man out of all his money by dumping him outside the forest. "Yuri, don't." She warned the young knight as a sickening glint shined in his eyes and it was obvious what came next was inevitable.

"Quite the princes you are; conning the poor out of their money so you can booze it up at night?" Yuri smirked as the men turned to look at him. "Why aren't you charming?" He finished off as Chastel quickly got out of her seat and raced towards the bar where her sister and Flynn sat.

One of the three men got up and sat across from Yuri as he leaned closer to the black-haired knights. "What was that? Why don't you say that again to my face you dog!" The man shouted at Yuri with the smell of alcohol on his breath.

Yuri smiled. "Would you mind backing up a bit?" He nudged Annabella for her to get away from him and the guildsmen. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend." Just as Annabella stood up, the man took a swing at Yuri, causing the young girl to let out a short shriek as she raced to her brother. Yuri leaned out of the way and threw his glass of water at the guildsman which led him to flip the table out of the way.

The knight kicked the chair up and slammed the man into the wall as he fought the other guildsmen who came after him as well. While dodging the flying plates and glasses Annabella attempted to speak with her brother. "Flynn, please do something; Yuri's going to get hurt at this rate." She watched as the young knight was surrounded by three guildsmen.

"He got himself into this mess so it has nothing to do with me." Annabella cried out as a guildsman snuck up towards Flynn and punched his hard in the jaw. The young girl could see the rage in Flynn's eyes as he held his jaw in pain. "I said this has nothing to do with me!" HE shouted as he punched the guy in the head with full force.

As Flynn stormed off towards the brawl Yuri back stepped onto a wine bottle and fell straight into the arms of an enormous man. The guildsman held Yuri off the ground as a second man approached and punched him repeatedly in his face. Luckily for him, Flynn ran up behind him, grabbed the man, and punched him aside. Yuri was dropped and the two immediately ran after the others.

Just as things were looking up for Flynn and Yuri, Annabella felt herself being grabbed from behind as a switchblade was held in front of her neck. "Hey, knights!" He shouted at Flynn and Yuri who turned around to the terrifying sight. "Check mate."

Suddenly the fight stopped as a man with a profound beer belly stepped into the light. "You damn fool! Unhand that girl right now!" The man let go on Annabella and pushed her to Flynn as the knight dropped the guildsman he was holding. He immediately wrapped his arms around his quivering sister as Yuri spoke with the man.

"Annabella, are you okay?" Flynn asked nervously as he checked over his sister for any scratches. She assured her brother that she was fine and focused on his bruised cheek. The two siblings stood there for a moment making sure that the other was okay as Yuri introduced himself to the guild leader.

The twins slowly came from their hiding places and approached the two boys and Annabella. "We should get back to the headquarters; you two look awful." Hisca began in a condescending tone. "And Annabella, you're shaking…"

Chastel placed a hand on Annabella's arm. "That man nearly scared you to death!" She exclaimed as she ushered the rest of the brigade out of the tavern. "Don't worry, we'll make sure to get all three of you fixed up."

* * *

**This chapter covered a lot of the movie's plot only because I want to move on to the more important parts of the past arc so I can go back to the present. **


	13. The First Disturbance

"Flynn, I'm sending you to the capital on my behalf." Captain Fedrock began as he finished scolding the boys for participating in a bar fight. The blonde knight seemed surprised that he was being sent to Zaphias to take the Captain's place. "The details remain inside this folder; I'm requesting back up to investigate the ruins not far from here. Field investigations lead us to believe that the source of the excess amount of aer is coming from those ruins." Fedrock looked at Yuri. "And you will be taking care of the dogs. And Annabella, you have the choice of going with who you please."

The other male knight rolled his eyes. "Again with those damn dogs?!"He shouted with an irritated tone as Annabella laughed at his frustration. Neither of them truly understood why Flynn was being sent to the capital while Yuri had to deal with the dogs but it was possible that it had something to do with Yuri starting the bar fight.

Fedrock looked to the twins. "Also, I've received a tip from Garista regarding a mage that may have information on the aer's effect on the monsters in the forest. I need one of the twins; I'll tka ehte bigger one." He said with a grin.

Both Annabella and Yuri looked over to Flynn. "They look exactly the same height to me…" Yuri muttered. Flynn only blushed and looked up at the ceiling to avoid the innocent gazes from the other two. However the twins knew exactly what he meant; it was in regards to their significant differences in their breasts.

The captain then dismissed the group while Chastel and Flynn remained with the captain to further discuss their duties for tomorrow. Annabella proceeded with Yuri and Hisca to the second floor of rooms and stopped by her bedroom door. "I'm going to stay here tomorrow with you, Yuri. Flynn won't be able to look after me so I think I'd be better off staying."

Yuri smiled. "Alright, I'll pass that on to your brother before I leave to sleep with the dogs…" He continued in a low growl before lightening up again. "Sorry I got you into that mess at the bar, Little Bell." He apologized. "I didn't think they would bring you into the matter." He gave the young girl a hug as he said his goodnight and went to his room.

* * *

The next morning, Annabella had gotten up early to say goodbye to her older brother before he set off for Zaphias. Once he had left, she began heading back towards the building where she found Yuri with a few other members of the brigade. "Hey, Little Bell." He greeted. "I've got to settle some monsters outside the city so I can't talk right now. Stay here, okay?"

Lambert sat behind Yuri ad Annabella bent down to give the dog a hug and kiss on the head. "Alright, be careful Lambert." She looked up to Yuri. "You better watch out for Lambert; Fedrock won't be too happy if he comes back to a harmed Lambert."

"Sorry, Annabella but we must be going to settle the attack." Hisca interrupted. Annabella immediately backed away and wished the brigade good luck before leading Repede down the hill to a nearby park. It was a nice day but in the close distance Annabella could see a reddening sky with red snake-like creatures moving through the air.

"Repede, look!" Annabella exclaimed as she saw Yuri walking up the hill towards the iron-barred gates. "Yuri's home!" She opened the gate and Repede bounded around Yuri's feet happily. Something was odd about Yuri but she pushed it aside as him being exhausted. "Come on, Repede." She began as she saw Lambert wasn't with Yuri but figured he was just trailing back. "Let's wait for Lambert." Annabella stood beside the young pup as he sat with his tail wagging.

When Yuri didn't say anything, Annabella looked over her shoulder. "Yuri?" She turned around to stare at the back of the knight's head before he turned as well but avoided her gaze. "Yuri, where's Lambert?" She glanced back at Repede who was wagging his tail as he waited for his father to return home.

Yuri looked up to find himself captured by Annabella's icy blue eyes as she muttered his name in a squeaky voice. He dragged out the silence as long as he could before stepping forward and pulling Annabella into his chest. "I-I'm so sorry… I had no choice, Little Bell- I just couldn't…. There was no other way but to…" The knight had trouble getting out a sentence and finally he shortened his thoughts. "Lambert's dead."

The young girl froze in the arms of her old friend and after a few moments, she started shaking. Yuri held her tightly as he fought back his own tears. "They turned to monsters…" He cried, "They killed another knight I just couldn't let them kill the others…" Yuri gripped at her hair. "Little Bell, I'm so sorry…" He ended shakily.

Annabella was silent as she attempted to process the information given to her but she just couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Lambert was gone. "Y-Yuri…" He slowly let go of her and walked over to Repede. The knight picked up the puppy and held him close to his face as he apologized for everything.

There was a fast clicking noise and Yuri turned slightly to see Annabella racing off towards the dog house and stables. Yuri stood with the dog in his arms and walked after her as Repede licked his cheeks. He came around to the house to find Annabella lying in the hay with one of the younger enlisted dogs as she slowly stroked its head. "Little Bell…" He set Repede down beside the dog as Annabella sat up. "I'm sorry…"

"You had no other choice…" Annabella replied quietly as he wiped tears from her eyes. "I just can't believe he's gone… Poor Repede." She hugged the puppy tightly before setting him back down as she heard the movement of someone else in the stables. The girl stood up as she saw Flynn hanging up the reins to the horse that was lent to him. "Flynn!"

Flynn saw immediately that something was wrong with her and he held her shoulders. "What's wrong, Anya?" He asked but she immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his stomach. "Huh?"

The other knight looked up at Flynn "Must've been nice taking a field trip to the capital and meet the Commandant." Yuri growled in a rude tone. Annabella let go of Flynn and looked back at Yuri as she silently pleaded for him not to start a fight now.

"Shut up…" Flynn growled, "I'm to in the mood to deal with you right now. I have better things to do right now." He walked out into the courtyard just outside the stables and Yuri pushed himself up to follow him outside.

Annabella tried to stop Yuri from fighting with her older brother but he snapped back way too quickly for her to react. "Oh that's right, you're much too important to talk to people like me since your dad was such a respected knight!" The venom in his voice was a sure sign of his absolute hatred for the blonde knight.

Flynn looked back over his shoulder and stepped forward as he punched Yuri square in the jaw. The black-haired knight stumbled back but came back with all his strength behind his fist as he slammed it into Flynn's gut. As Flynn attacked Yuri, they tumbled onto the ground, Flynn punching his again and again before Yuri rolled Flynn onto his back and began attacking him as well.

"Stop it!" Annabella shouted as Repede jumped around barking at the two. "Please, stop fighting!" Tears dripped from her eyes and Repede let out a juvenile howl as he tried to alert others of what was happening.

* * *

Annabella was sitting on the edge of her brother's bed as she chewed on an apple gel and wiped the tears from her eyes. She heard the heavy footsteps of two people in the hallway as the door opened to Yuri and Flynn. As Yuri went to the window and sat down Flynn sat beside his sister and gave her a tight hug. "Anya, I had no idea that Lambert had… I'm sorry."

The young girl immediately broke down into tears as she hugged her brother tightly. She didn't understand how someone she loved could be taken away from her so quickly. It reminded her of when she lost her father but she was so young that she didn't quite remember what he was like but Flynn always described him as a wonderful person.

"Flynn…" She muttered quietly. "Please don't fight with Yuri anymore…?" He seemed confused at first but she quickly went on. "You and Yuri are the only two people I have left and I don't want you to always hate it when you're together…"

Both boys exchanged glances and sighed as they thought about what she had said. They grew up in Zaphias's lower quarter but they had never gotten along; a trait that last all the way up until they were 18 and in the knights. Neither of them said anything up until the time that Hisca came to take Annabella back to their room.

* * *

**This is going to be moving really fast now so I can get through this past arc already! 12:15 in the morning and I'm still up writting fanfiction... I need a life.**


	14. The First Strike

"Flynn?" Annabella began as she found her brother and Yuri standing outside with the rest of the brigade. "Where are you going?" Usually her brother told Annabella about his missions in painful detail so that she wouldn't worry about where he was or what he was doing when they weren't together. But he never mentioned the mission he was preparing for today and she could tell something was off by the way both boys avoided her eyes.

The captain looked over his shoulder at the two boys who seemed to be having trouble dealing with the younger girl and he sighed. "She was going to find out eventually, boys." Fedrock commented. "It's best you tell her now so she doesn't try to follow us." He leaned against the gate as the other knights prepared themselves.

With a sigh Flynn rubbed the back of his next and looked down. "We're going to the ruins to investigate the excessive output of aer from the location." He saw all the color drain from her face and both he and Yuri exchanged a helpless glance.

"But you have no reinforcements…" Annabella began quietly as her entire body shook with fear. "Commandant Alexei told you to wait until after the ceremony for reinforcement; you can't go!" She raised her voice as she looked up at her brother and Yuri then to Fedrock for a moment. "You can't be serious about this, can you?"

Flynn held his sister's shoulders and he bent down to her level. "Anya I have to do what Captain Fedrock tells me to do whether I agree with it or not. I know you're scared but don't worry; I promise I'll come back to you tonight." As Flynn straightened and turned to Fedrock, Annabella grabbed his wrist and held him back.

She shook her head. "No, I don't want you to go, Flynn!" She shouted as she hugged he brother around the waist tightly. "Please Flynn you can't leave!" Annabella began to cry into her brother's stomach as he placed a hand on the back of her neck. "Flynn… If something happens to you and Yuri I'll no one…"

As Yuri grabbed Annabella and pulled her off of Flynn gently, he bent down and gave her a hug as well. "Your brother and I promise to come back home safely, okay? Nothing is going to happen to us; we're strong knights, remember? I won't let anything stand in our way of coming straight back her to you."

"You don't know that for sure, Yuri!" Annabella yelled at him as the black-haired knight pressed the tears away with his thumbs. "There's no one you know that you won't get hurt or even…" She shook the thought away and kept herself from finishing her sentence. "Yuri, you can't go…" Annabella looked back at Fedrock who avoided her as he disliked himself for causing so much worry.

Yuri stood and placed his hands on his hips. "Now give me one good reason why I would ever leave my Little Bell here without saying goodbye?" He asked with a smile. "That's why I won't say goodbye to you now; I know I'm coming back for you. Right, Flynn?"

Flynn smiled and gave his sister one last hug and a kiss on the head before attaching his sheathe to the belt of his uniform. However, Annabella still wasn't ready to give up on keeping her brother and Yuri at the headquarters as she held onto Flynn's arm. "No! I won't let the Empire take away my brother too!" Her voice was no a desperate scream as the tears started pouring down her face.

The captain muttered something to his second-in-command before the knight ran towards the stables. As Annabella continued to plead with the two knights Chastel and Hisca watched with saddened expressions as they had heard of the fate of Flynn and Annabella's father. Soon enough thought the knight came back with two stablemen. "Don't worry, Annabella; we'll all come back safely, I promise." Fedrock assured her.

As the two men wrapped their arms around Annabella's she immediately struggled to get away from them. Flynn and Yuri looked at Annabella with sadness in their eyes as they were ashamed of what had to happen in order for them to go on this mission. "Anya, I'm so sorry…" Flynn apologized as he turned away from her and began following Fedrock along with Yuri and the rest of the brigade.

"Flynn! Yuri!" Annabella screamed out at them as she kicked her legs to get away from the stablemen. "Please, you can't do this! Flynn, come back please!" But he never turned back and instead hurried away from the headquarters so he didn't have to hear the horrid cries from his little sister.

It was early the next morning after Annabella's lonely night by herself in her older brother's room that he shared with someone he recently held a strong hatred for. Annabella sat up in the bed and looked out the window to see an older fellow walking down an outside corridor holding a report. She recognized the man as a capital official but those were only sent out in a case of emergency. Even from her brother's bedroom, Annabella could plainly see that the man was horribly beaten up.

Curious, Annabella left the room and hurried down the stairs and into the hallway where Hisca and Chastel had fixed Yuri and Flynn up after the incident at the bar. Standing there she found her older brother with Yuri; both had tears in their eyes and reddened faces. "Flynn! Yuri! You're back! I was so scared when you didn't come home last night but now you're-"

"Annabella…" Flynn muttered as he slowly approached his sister before collapsing to his knees and pulling her down with him. The young girl was filled with confusion as her usually strong brother hugged her tightly and buried his face into her shoulder. When Annabella looked up at Yuri for an explanation, he looked away with a sigh.

She allowed her brother to hugged her and grab the folds in her shirt like he was holding on for dear life. "F-Flynn…? What's wrong?" Flynn didn't say anything and she didn't know what to do. Finally he let go and leaned away from his younger sister.

Flynn took a deep breath and stood back up as he helped his sister to her feet as well. "I'm so sorry, Anya but…" He took a long pause. "Captain Fedrock… He…. He's dead." He watched her s her mind attempted to process what was happening and she didn't want to believe that the captain truly was gone.

As she thought long and hard about Fedrock's death, Yuri stepped forward. "Little Bell… Sorry for not listening to you…" Tears fell from his dark eyes. "I know that apologies won't fix anything but I just don't know what to say… We didn't know…"

"No…" Annabella muttered as she fell forward into her older brother. "No!" She raised her voice. "He can't be dead, Flynn! He can't be! The captain promised! He promised that everyone would come back home safely so he has to be here!" She pushed herself away from Flynn and went to run outside but Yuri caught her. Annabella looked up at Yuri to see his face extremely serious. "No…"

"One final salute to Captain Niren Fedrock." The capital official called out as the ceremony drew to a close. Flynn and Yuri both raised their hands to their heads in salute and Annabella did the same as the carriage quickly drove off with the captain's body-less coffin on the back. They had never recovered the body but the coffin had been filled with items precious to the young captain.

As the carriage drove out of sight, Flynn turned to Yuri. "This isn't over just yet." He stole a glance over at an older gentleman with long blonde hair. His name was Garista and was a trusted ally of Niren Fedrock but Annabella had never dealt with him. Flynn looked down at Annabella, "We'll be right back."

Once her brother had gone inside, Annabella chased after them. She was careful to trail behind them by a few corners until she found her way to the library where her brother and Yuri were chatting with Garista. Annabella watched from the corner and did her best to remain quiet but what she heard was too much for her.

"Your father was such a nice man, Flynn; a shame that 'accident' wiped him out." Garista said with a grin. It made no sense to Annabella as to why he brought up her father but soon she knew exactly why he would begin such a conversation.

"My father…" Annabella could see the gears turning in Flynn's head and suddenly realization came over him. "You killed him, you bastard!" He shouted. But just then he heard a loud gasp as the library door lurched open to reveal Annabella standing there in absolute shock. Before Flynn or Yuri could say anything though, the young girl raced out of the room as fast as she could.

"Annabella!" Flynn and Yuri shouted after her.

* * *

**I thought the past arc would never end! Well, I kind of rushed the end but I thought it was really time toget back to the present time so we could move along. So next chapter will be in present time! Also, guess what short-tempered mage is making her debut~!**


	15. Dementia

"Flynn Scifo, you get the hell out of here!" A loud voice shouted from inside the inn bedroom just before the door swung open and the blonde Commandant was shoved out of the room. He stumbled forward and looked back at the brunette mage as the door slammed shut in his face. Flynn gave out a hopeless sigh before turning to the others who had been standing there the entire time.

With a short laugh Yuri stood beside his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "I told you that she doesn't care if you're the Commandant; she's not afraid to boss you around." He saw the worry in Flynn's eyes and he stared back at the door. "Hey, don't worry; she'll be fine. After all, this is Annabella we're talking about."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know but I still can't help worry about her." Flynn walked back to the door. "Think I can push my way through?" He asked looking over her shoulder at the others. "Huh, where's Karol?" The Commandant looked around the room for the young guild leader but couldn't find him anywhere.

"I think he went for a walk; he has some pretty strong feelings for your sister, Commandant." Judith explained shortly. "Raven went out to look for him about an hour ago. We should probably leave it to him to console Karol though…" The Krytian was sitting down in a comfy armchair with her legs over the arm.

Flynn made a small noise of confirmation and Yuri turned the doorknob to the sleeping Annabella's room. "I'll help you get through… Just remember to keep your shield up, Flynn." Yuri warned as he opened the door however the warning was meaningless as both boys were unarmed.

"I thought I told you to stay the hell out of here, Flynn!" The voice shouted again but when Yuri appeared in the doorway she sighed. "Really, I need you two to stay out of this room so I can concentrate!"

The concerned older brother shook his head. "Please, Ms. Rita, allow me to help with my younger sister. Or if you need no assistance simply allow me to stay in the room with her." Flynn seemed desperate just to be in the same room as his sister.

Rita let out a low growl before turning away to sit on a chair beside Annabella's bed. "Fine, you can stay. But Yuri, you have the count of five to get out of here before I cut you into little bits for a Yuri Stew." She leaned over Annabella and pushed her left eyelids open.

"A Yuri Stew; that actually sounds pretty delicious, can I have the recipe?" He asked sarcastically just as Rita threw a book at the man. It slammed into his back before he darted out of the room, closing it behind him.

The mage breathed heavily. "I don't know how you deal with having that being your best friend." She looked up to see Flynn tuning her out and looking at his younger sister with overwhelming sadness. "Look, I don't know if she's going to be okay; I won't lie to you. But I'm trying my best to keep her with us, okay?"

Flynn looked up at the mage and smiled lightly with the sadness still existent in his light blue eyes as Rita returned her attention to Annabella. "Hold her eyelids open while I lock the formula." She ordered plainly as Flynn pushed his sister's eyelids open. Now he could see those icy blue eyes with strange yellow glyphs that spelled out some type of formula around her iris.

As Rita typed up a formula on some strange device, Flynn gazed into Annabella's blank eyes. Soon enough she printed out two plastic-like circles with formulas written on them. "Finally! Hopefully these will work so just hold it steady…" She pressed the circle onto Annabella's eye and watched the formula on the printed circle glow brightly. "You can let go; it worked fine."

"How can you tell if it's working or not?" Flynn asked as Rita gestured for him to hold her other eye open as she pressed the circle on that eye as well.

Rita took a deep breath as she stood up and began walking towards the door. "If the formulas didn't react to each other in a safe way then it could've permanently blinded her at the least…" She paused. "And at the most it would've killed her. I know neither of those things happened because she isn't in pain from it."

The Commandant glanced down at Annabella's bandaged abdomen that Judith had treated before Rita arrived in Capua Nor. He had seen how horrible the raw wound was and it sickened him to see such a horrific injury on a young girl. "So it was a gamble..." He muttered quietly but he wasn't angry as he was relieved his sister would most likely be okay.

"Yeah well… Why don't you come out here so I can explain it to everyone at once; I know exactly what's going on." Rita began as she went to join the others in the main area of the inn. The Commandant followed her to find Karol and Raven in the room as well; everyone seemed eager to hear from Rita. "She's going to be alright, I think. She responded perfectly to the formula that I attached to her."

Karol jumped up from his chair excitedly. "She's okay?!" He exclaimed happily as delight filled his face. "So what happened to her anyway?"

Rita instructed everyone to get comfortable as it would be difficult to explain everything in enough detail for them to understand. "Annabella used to be in an outside guild like you all said." Rita began. "Cryptic Heart was known in the outside-guild-world to give each member an injection of a substance called Dementia."

She waited for everyone to seem like they were following her before she continued with the explanation. "Use of Dementia had been made illegal not only in the Empire but also in the Union and even every outside guild excluding Cryptic Heart. Dementia replaces a certain percentage of the body's liquid mass and activates when the host becomes angry, feels cornered, or knows that they will die in their current situation. It was used to make their members more dangerous and harder to kill."

"So that outside guild injected my sister with an illegal substance?" Flynn growled.

"That's not all;" Rita added. "Unless the substance is sealed the Dementia will simply replace itself once used which causes it to take up a larger percentage of the body. Luckily I was able to block the substance's regeneration before it could take over more but she still needs to use up the rest of the Dementia before her body can be rid of it." With one final pause, Rita finished. "Since she's so young her body will take a while to replace the empty liquid mass so she'll be weak for quite some time."

The entire room was quiet until finally the oldest of the party spoke up. "That's horrible… To think such a young girl has to go through something as horrible as that. I have a entirely new respect for her." After a moment Raven continued. "But that still doesn't answer the question why she never told anyone who she really was."

Flynn nodded. "We can always ask her once she wakes up." He suggested. The blonde haired knight turned back to Karol who seemed extremely concerned. "Do you want to go in to see her?" Flynn asked as he and Flynn went to go back into the room.

He nodded then quickly chased after the other boy against Rita's protesting as she attempted to prevent Flynn and the guild leader from getting inside but she eventually gave in the determined older brother. Once inside, Karol shut the door and approached Annabella quietly; he was utterly speechless as he saw the seemingly lifeless girl lying on the bed.

As Karol sat down on the chair next to Annabella his eyes filled up with threatening tears. He glanced at is pasty white face and then began to compare her looks to Flynn. "I don't know why we weren't able to figure it out beforehand…" Yuri said as he came into the room unannounced. His sudden entrance startled both Flynn and Karol as he stood at the foot of Annabella's bed. "She gave so many hints."

"What do you mean?" Flynn wondered. "I mean, I suspected it when I first met her but the personality was so different that I put in out of mind completely. Like when she refused my help and acted cold to me; Annabella never did that as a kid."

Yuri smirked and sat on the bed behind Karol as he explained everything. "When I first met her Repede seemed to recognize her; he was barking and all over her." He paused. "Whenever she moved I'd hear that bell of hers and when she refused to take off the scarf it was really strange. Then we went to Aurnion to check up on the town and an elderly woman told her about the story of when you came to the town and saved them all. She was so interested and mesmerized by it."

"And then when we met up with you Repede noticed what I guess was the scent that you and Little Bell." Yuri continued then with a saddened look. "I turned my blade on her so many times even though I knew of the possibility she could be Annabella."

With a sigh, Flynn rested his head beside his sister on her bed and he cracked a small smile. "I'm so glad she's alive…" He seemed like an entire different person as the usual worked to the bone Commandant seemed completely relaxed. "Do you remember when you gave her the bell?" Flynn asked without looking up at the other two.

The former knight laughed. "Of course I do!" He saw Karol turn around to listen in on the story as he was a little curious as to how she got the bell. "She had that bell for the longest time and always went around ringing it. But then one day she lost while walking around the Noble Quarter. I spent all day and night looking for it and when I finally found it, I put it on that collar and gave it to her so she would never lose it."

"And she became your Little Bell." Flynn finished. "I remember when I used to hate it when you'd call her that. But that was when we couldn't be in the same room without mauling each other." He commented. "Oh," Flynn lifted his head from the bed. "Not that I don't want you in here but why do you care for her so much?"

Karol was startled by the sudden question and his face flushed and bright red as he looked away from the Commandant. With a grin Yuri decided to speak for the young guild leader. "Captain Karol here has quite the crush on your sister, Flynn." He answered. "You could say it was love at first sight; I could tell that Karol fell completely head over heels for her. But she's as clueless as ever but then again she's not that different from her older brother."

The Commandant rolled his eyes at Yuri's last comment but then his face softened with a friendly laugh. "So she won over someone other than just me and Yuri?" Flynn wondered aloud. "The only other person that had that reaction to her was our captain. So Karol, even though she lied to you about who she was… Will you still stay by her side?"

He took a short silence to collect his thoughts. "If Annabella has a good reason for lying to us then I can't hate her for it. She always said that she couldn't tell us anything because she was protecting us. But if she doesn't have a good reason… Well, I don't know. If you love someone aren't you supposed to stand by their side no matter what?" Karol seemed extremely conflicted with what he should do so he looked up to the other two boys for an answer.

Neither of the boys had an answer for Karol but suddenly there was a knock at the door as Rita voice shouted out. "Hey I only want three people in there at a time! The old man wants to get in there so would you mind speeding it up?" Yuri stood and gestured for Karol to follow them as they left Flynn to be with his dear younger sister.

"Hey, Commandant." Raven began as he came into the room along with Judith. "How's the mini-you doing?" He asked before sitting down o the bed behind Flynn and Judith stood beside the bed opposite from Flynn.

Flynn put his head back down on the bed. "I think she'll be okay; she's apparently strong enough to get along without her big brother and for her that's a big achievement." He watched the slow rise and falls of his sister's chest and listened to her light breaths.

The Krytian smiled down at the two blonde siblings as they lay close to each other. "I don't think you need to worry, Flynn. As long as you believe your sister can pull herself through this she'll be alright." Judith patted Flynn on the shoulder before leaving the room. "She's a strong girl. Oh and Raven, Rita doesn't want you in here too long because it's getting late- That goes for you too, Flynn." And with that she was gone.

Back outside Yuri was talking with Rita who seemed a little irritated. "Come on, you can let him stay in there, can't you?" Rita shook her head. "It's his fifteen year old sister, Rita! Just let him stay with her; he wants to stay with her so that when she wakes up he's right there."

"I can't let him stay in there; I don't care if he's her brother!" Rita exclaimed. "If Flynn's in there when she wakes up he's going to hug her which will put her in too pain and possibly trigger the Dementia and we really can't afford to have that happen."

Yuri seemed to be getting frustrated with the stubborn mage but he couldn't find any solution to problem in which he came out on top. With a low growl, Yuri took a seat but refused to go to his own room that he would be sharing the other men in their party.

Hours had passed as people left the inn for a walk and would return only to sit back down in the lobby. The only one who remained in Annabella's room was her very own brother who none had been in to check up on. Finally Karol decided he was going to bed and Raven soon followed. When the girls stated they wanted to go to sleep, Yuri stood up and went into Annabella's room to retrieve Flynn.

"Hey, Flynn." He began. "Come on, you need to go to sleep; Rita say you can't…" Yuri trailed off as he saw Flynn fast asleep with his head beside Annabella's sleeping body. He approached his old friend and prodded him with his foot. "Flynn, wake up." The blonde's icy blue eyes slowly opened and he looked up at Yuri. "You can't stay with her overnight; this is the girls' room."

Flynn stood and gave his younger sister and kiss on the cheek as he whispered something to her that was inaudible for Yuri. "I didn't mean to fall asleep… I hope I didn't keep the girls from getting the bed early enough." He and Yuri came out of the room with the Commandant's eyelids heavy with sleep as the two went into their own bedroom that they were sharing with Raven and Karol.

* * *

**This so much longer than I wanted it to be. But oh well! At least you've got a long chapter to hold you over while I work on my Graces fanfic!**


	16. Hunger Talks

Rita Mordio was woken up by sharp cries that seemed much too loud for her own comfort. The voice seemed to be screaming for someone and as Rita slowly gained her composure, she saw the outline of Annabella as she shouted for her older brother. The Krytian was bent over Annabella's bed as she attempted to calm down the dreaming child. "Shh… Annabella, open your eyes!" Judith tried to wake her up.

"What's going on?" Rita asked as she pushed herself out of bed and approached Annabella. She turned on a lamp to see Annabella's red face as she appeared to be having a nightmare. Repede sat up and put his paws up on the bed to see the young girl. The dog had been allowed to stay in the room as agreed on with both Yuri and Flynn.

The mage looked down at Repede. "Pooch, go get Flynn and Yuri!" She commanded. Although the dog usually only responded to Yuri, he raced away immediately as Judith opened the door for him. "I don't know what's happening…" Rita muttered to herself. "I've never heard of the Dementia giving such a side effect… I hope it's just a nightmare."

As Repede began scratching as the boys' door desperately, Annabella's condition only worsened. She began whipping her head side to side as she shouted her older brother's name again and again. Finally Repede came back into the room with Flynn at his heels alongside Yuri. "What's wrong with her?!" Flynn shouted.

Rita shook her head. "I don't know! She just started screaming for you but she isn't even awake!" She seemed genuinely concerned for the young girl as she watched Flynn take his sister's hand and shake it fiercely.

"Come on, Annabella, wake up!" Flynn yelled at her. She continued to scream for him and each time the desperation and terror in her voice made him feel like someone was taking a knife to his chest. "I'm right here, Annabella!" The girl began asking where he and Yuri were and Flynn could only repeat himself over and over again. "Yuri and I are both here; please open your eyes, Anya!"

Yuri bent down as well and took Annabella's other hand and together the two tried to calm the unconscious girl. "Please, Little Bell… We're right here… Calm down…" They repeated themselves over and over again until her body stopped shaking and the shouts become whispers and then became nonexistent.

It was late in the morning as the girls' bedroom door opened wide and Yuri stepped inside. Flynn had fallen asleep with his head on Annabella's bed right beside the girl's side and as Yuri approached him, Flynn began to wake up. "Did she have any more outbursts last night?" He asked in a concerned tone.

Flynn shook his head as he pushed himself off the ground. "No, she didn't make a noise except for a few squeaks but she's done that since she was a little kid. The twins always complained about her keeping them up at night." He cracked a smile before going for the door. "Is there anything to eat? I haven't eaten since I was at Heliord waiting for you guys."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you getting kidnapped." Yuri began as he followed his friend out to the lobby where Rita and Judith had already cooked breakfast using an inn supplied kitchen. "Some Commandant you are; getting yourself kidnapped like that. What do you think Fedrock would say about that?"

The blonde went into shallow thought for a moment. "Something along the lines of me having to put on more weight so that I can't be picked up so easily… And then fist to the back of my head." The two friends laughed as they took their seats. "He always was a little rough with his tough love act, wasn't he?"

Rita stood from her own seat and went towards Annabella's room. "I'm going to check on the kid now that Flynn's awake. Stay out of there for a little while so I can concentrate, alright?" The brunette looked at Flynn. "Especially you; no more begging to get in, do you hear me?!" She seemed cross with the older man.

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Flynn then focused on the plate of food placed in front of him. "Oh thank you, Judith." The Commandant smiled at her before he had turned to his food and began to eat quickly. To him it felt like ages since he had last eaten something but this morning he was eating to fill himself up and as stress-eating.

"I changed your sister's bandages while you two were sleeping." Judith began. "She should be just fine so you have nothing to worry about. But I hope you don't mind; I allowed Karol to help me and it didn't seem to sit too well with him." The Krytian nodded her head towards the corner of the room where Karol was sitting with Raven.

Karol had his head resting on one arm as he listened to Raven talking at him and twitched his feet nervously. "You know he's probably digging his own grave…" Yuri muttered to Flynn causing the blonde to turn around in surprise. "Your sister never was one to understand love if you know what I mean. Remember when she said that she would never fall in love because she was afraid of being her or hurting someone else? Maybe that's why she tried to desperately to protect us like she kept saying when we knew her as Luna."

"You're probably right but maybe she's changed…" Flynn began hopefully. "After all, she definitely became independent since she ran out of our lives seven years ago… I had no clue she'd ever turn out like this; to think the girl I saw at Heliord is the same girl seven years ago when we were both knights… I can't believe it."

The black-haired man nodded in agreement. "I remember when we couldn't even go on a guard shift without her worrying about us so much that she'd follow us. I'm surprised she didn't follow us to the ruins!' Yuri exclaimed. "But now she seems almost cold… I think she took too much after me with that."

Flynn sighed. "I'm glad she didn't though; imagine how much psychological and emotional damage that would've done to Annabella if she saw the captain's death? She would never be the same girl again; even worse than she is now. I think Lambert and Fedrock's death took too big of a toll on her and learning that Garista was responsible for our father's death just threw her over the edge."

"I wish I had the chance to apologize before she ran off like that…" Yuri began. "We could've left the knights together; just me and her. She wouldn't have had to feel alone and without a family if only she had stuck around one more day." The two finished their food then stacked the dished in the center of the dish.

"Maybe she'll forgive us for practically abandoning her… If we had never joined the knights she'd be out of bed right now and out with us…" Flynn rambled as he balanced a fork on the rim of a glass.

Yuri stood and gathered the dishes in his arms. "But if we didn't join the knights we never would've became friends and instead we'd just live out our lives hating each other's guts and you'd never become Commandant." He looked down at his feet as he set the dishes in the sink. "So maybe he running away wasn't such a bad thing. I mean neither of us was able to be there for her once we joined the knights. And if you didn't join she'd leave thinking that she was keeping you from pursuing your dreams."

Suddenly there was a loud barking and Rita threw the bedroom door open. "Flynn, Yuri! She's waking up!"

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**Sorry this is really short but it was only place I could stop it without it getting too long.**


	17. Awakening

Flynn came in and saw that Annabella was stirring a little in her bed. She wiggled back and forth until her brilliant icy blue eyes blinked open to see Rita whom she had never met. Flynn went to hug his sister but Rita immediately stopped the much taller knight. "You need to be easy with her, Flynn!" She shouted. "Remember, she's still recovering from that wound."

The Commandant gently pushed Rita aside and collapsed onto his knees next to the bed and wrapped his arms around Annabella tightly. "You're alive, Annabella! You're really still alive…" As the older brother hugged his sister, she didn't react in any way but had a look of regret in her eyes.

"Please, Flynn… I'm not staying." Annabella replied as she attempted to gently push her brother away. The Commandant pulled himself away and stood up looking at her with a small amount of anger. "I can't stay here with you and Yuri… Now that the Dark Contract knows you're my brother, they'll do anything to get to you and kill you."

The black-haired man shook his head. "You're an idiot, Little Bell." He said with a sigh. "If you really think that the fact our lives are being threatened will keep us from wanting you right by our sides then I've really underestimated how stupid you truly are." Yuri moved his hands to his hips. "And to think you survived seven years without us!"

Annabella didn't seem at all amused with the ex-knight and glared at him. "Excuse me? If you knew my position you wouldn't be saying that, Yuri." She seemed extremely hostile towards the old friend but as she growled at him, the girl hugged her stomach in pain. Her brother immediately came to her assistance and propped her up against the pillows as Yuri' smile faded.

"So why didn't you say anything?' Yuri wondered. "I mean, why does the Dark Contract want to kill the people you care about? You haven't given us their reasoning as to why they want Flynn dead." The man seemed very interested in what the answer to his question would be. "But I want everyone else to be in here as well."

Rita and Yuri left the room for a moment to call the others into the room and soon Karol was right next to Annabella's bed. The young girl glanced at Karol worriedly as if she was ashamed of herself for lying to him. As Raven and the others who had originally been absent made sure she was alright, Yuri prompted her to explain herself.

At first Flynn objected to having his sister questioned but soon realized it was essential for them to know the whole truth. "Right after I left Shizontania I took a boat to Capua Torim and made my way towards Dahngrest. On my way there I ran into Cryptic Hearts and found it best that I'd join them because one member had the ability to get access to official files and plant information that they member was dead."

"Since I now had the name of a register dead girl, I needed to find a new name for myself." Annabella continued. "I went seven years without finding a new name for myself and that's why I never went on missions where my name would get out. Finally I had planned an attack on a village full of unregistered citizens. We purged the entire town and the residents and one had the name Lunadesca Talbet."

The young blonde looked down at the sheets that covered her legs. "I didn't know she was the leader of the Dark Contract's daughter… But I took her name; I needed a name that wouldn't be questioned. This way, if my name popped up somewhere in the Empire, my identity couldn't be contradicted by another use of it."

Both Flynn and Yuri could tell the young girl was troubled by the story but she still continued. "When the leader heard that his daughter had been murdered by Cryptic Heart he decided to take immediate action." There was a long pause before Annabella finally continued on. "So one-by-one he killed the family and loved ones of each member before killing the target. They did it to everyone one of us until only me and one other remained. But both of us luckily had no records attaching us to family or loved ones and we managed to run away and avoid the Dark Contract."

"So you're afraid they'll kill us just to hurt you?" Flynn wondered aloud before sitting on the edge of his sister's bed and pulled her into a light hug. He rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed. "Anya please don't force yourself to face this alone. We can all help you and now that I'm Commandant I can protect you so much better than I could seven years ago."

This time Annabella seemed to melt into her brother's arms. "Flynn, it wasn't your fault that I left… It wasn't anybody's fault. I left because I couldn't handle having people I loved dying and then finding out the truth behind our father's death." She leaned against him. "You were always a perfect knight to me… I never doubted that you could protect me whenever I was threatened."

Suddenly there was a pressure down on the young girl's head and as Flynn let go of Annabella she could tell Yuri had his hand on her head. The older man twisted his hand back and forth on her head and ruffled her hair roughly. "I knew we had nothing to worry about. My Little Bell would never disappoint me."

"You're still calling me that after all this?" Annabella sighed with a small smile as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. However Rita stopped the young girl immediately. "It's alright; the wound doesn't hurt that much so I'll be fine. But um… If you don't mind me asking… Who are you?" She asked politely.

"Rita Mordio." She answered shortly. "And right now I'm in charge of your health and whether or not you get out of bed so if you don't mind-" But the short mage was no match for the younger girl as she ran straight past Rita and jumped up to wrap her arms around Yuri's neck. "Hey! Get back in bed, you're injured, stupid!"

As Yuri swung the small girl around in a circle, he pressed his cheek against her head, and the set her down on the ground gently. "What was that for?" He asked. "Have you been holding yourself back from doing that this whole time?" Yuri grabbed the girl's shoulders as she wavered slightly from the pain of her stomach.

Annabella smiled with her first genuine smile that the group had seen since they met her as Lunadesca. "It's been killing me!" As Flynn saw that his younger sister was in slight pain he picked her up and set her back down on the bed. "Oh, I almost forgot to take this obnoxious thing off…" Annabella began as she untied the scarf around her neck. "Much better."

"I still can't believe you've kept that old thing for so long. I gave that to you when you nearly five years old! Is it really that special to you?" Yuri exclaimed as he sat down on the bed beside Annabella with Karol. "I'm surprised it hasn't broken or something…"

Flynn leaned over his sister and held the small bell in his hands and looked around the collar. "There's not a single scratch or flaw with it; you took good care of it, Anya." Her brother praised the young girl with a pat on the head.

"I wouldn't let anything happen to this bell no matter what." Annabella replied quietly before looking around at everyone. "Um, can Flynn and I be alone for a bit? You can come back later but I need to talk with him in private."

As everyone filed out, Rita looked back at Flynn with a slight glare." Be gentle with her, Flynn! Trust me, you don't want the Dementia activating right now." She warned before leaving with the others and shut the door behind her.

The room was quiet for a few moments until Flynn looked into his sister's eyes. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Anya?" He asked but suddenly his sister got up on her knees and wrapped her arms around her brother's neck as she sobbed loudly. "What's the matter?" Flynn asked gently as the young girl's body shook uncontrollably.

At first Annabella said nothing until she sniffed shortly. "I've missed you so much, Flynn…" The young girl chocked out. "So many times I didn't want to keep going because I didn't want to live without you!" Flynn did his best to calm down his crying sister but he eventually just wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to wiggle her head into his neck. "Now I can finally come back to you…"

"Never do that again, Anya…" Flynn began. "I swear if you do that again I won't forgive you." He sighed and held her at arm's length. "You're so lucky Yuri and I love you as much as we do." The older brother scolded his sister gently as he planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'm going to send someone else in to see you, alright? Give them a chance to yell at you a bit." The Commandant grabbed a piece of her hair and let it slip through his fingers as he stood up and walked out the door.

Not even a minute later the eldest member of their group walked into the room and shut the door behind him. The old man took slow steps to the bed next to Annabella and sat down on the edge as he rested his elbows on his knees. "So, Luna-honey… How're you doing?" Raven asked with his signature care-free smile.

Annabella looked down at her thumbs as she spoke. "You're still going to call me that?" She asked with a short laugh before looking up at him. "If you want to keep calling me honey,, why don't you use my real name?" The young blonde asked innocently.

"I suppose I should, right?" Raven thought for a moment before giving her the thumbs up. "Then how about I tell you something, Anna-honey?" He began as he substituted Anna for Luna in his pet-name for Annabella. "I know who you really are so let me tell you my true identity. Have you ever heard of a knight named Schwann Oltorain?" When she nodded Raven continued. "Well, yours truly is said knight."

Her eyes went wide in amazement. "Y-You're Captain Schwann?" Annabella exclaimed in disbelief. "Then you're a hero from the Great War!" She seemed mesmerized by her new discovery and looked at Raven with adoring eyes.

Raven cocked an eyebrow at her. "What?" He seemed confused. "You know about the Great War? Were you even alive…?" She nodded quickly and he smiled at her. "I'm surprised you know about me from that; it happened before I became Captain." The old man stood up and patted the girl's head lightly as he walked towards the door. "Well, I know the little man wants to come in and see you so I won't bore you with long stories. If you want some old war tales come looking for ole Raven." And with that he was gone.

"L-L… I mean Annabella?" Karol began as he slipped into the room quietly and sat down on the edge of Annabella's bed. "So you're really Flynn's sister…? He always talked about you before we saved the world from the Adephagos but I never thought that you could possibly be the Annabella he was talking about."

She nodded silently before glancing up at Karol who seemed to be avoiding her gaze. "So you probably hate me now for lying to you, right?" Annabella saw the surprise in his eyes as he whipped around to look at her. "If it means anything to you… We can start off new." The girl looked up at him with a soft smile. "I'm Annabella Scifo formerly of Cryptic Heart and sister of the Commandant; Flynn Scifo."

Karol looked at Annabella for a few moments before cracking into a wide smile. "Of course I don't hate you! You lied for a good reason; you were afraid of Flynn and Yuri getting hurt because of their relationship to you." He looked around the room. "And now that I know the real you… I'm Karol Capel; leader of Brave Vesperia."

"Karol," Annabella began. "My brother and Yuri were my only worries until I found Yuri again… Then I met you and Raven, too! I realized later that I wanted to keep you from harm as well as my brother and Yuri. Even though I practically just met you, I still can't bear the thought of losing you." She saw Karol's face flush red.

The leader of Brave Vesperia looked to Annabella and sighed. "Annabella…"

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**I've been DYING to write this chapter, you guys have no idea. I won't be able to update until at least Sunday because I have a friend coming over tomorrow and then I'm off to an Anime Convention in Manchester, NH where all my money shall be spent on Flynn and Yuri merchandise. Looks liek my wallet will be crying for awhile.**


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